Robin Naff

Quiz #7: Why do Afro-Americans disproportionately commit Index Crimes?

Robert Sampson concludes in his study that "there is nothing inherent in black culture that is conducive to crime. Rather, persistently high rates of back crime appear to stem from the structural linkages among unemployment, economic deprivation, and family disruption in urban black communities." (pg.147) He refutes the subculture-of-violence thesis that "asserts that high black crime rates and the strong positive effect of percentage black has on the aggregate homicide rate reflect a cultural s ystem unique to the black experience . . . thus maintaining that violent criminal acts such as homicide and assault are expressions of a subcultural value system that condones and legitimates violence." (pg. 148)

Sampson writes that the black family defers dramatically from the white family. 42% of black families with children are headed by females - reflecting a 100% increase from 1960 to 1980. The percentage of families headed by white women are only 1 1%. He states that one possible reason for this is the "increasing difficulty of finding a marriage partner with stable employment." This argument obviously links marriage instability with unemployment. Additional research shows that "income and occup ational status are inversely related to marital instability." (pg.149) With this in mind, persistent poverty is believed to cause, rather than a consequence of, family disruption.

Sampson asserts that there are at least three reasons that the family disruption stemming from male joblessness may help to explain the disproportionate rate that black males commit index crimes: (1) Research shows that family stability has a neg ative effect on juvenile delinquency. (2) Because of family disruption the formal social controls may be diminished. (3) Another possible consequence of family disruption is the decrease in informal social controls within the community.

Sampson provides empirical data that shows family structure and female headed households have the largest effect on black juvenile offending, and are significant in predicting black adult robbery. He also examines white family disruption and find s that it also has large (even larger than for blacks) positive effects on white juvenile and adult robbery. This supports the hypothesis that the consequences of family disruption on crime are "generic and thus not rooted in subcultural characteristics of black ghettos." (pg.162)

Sampson concludes that, "the extremely high level of black violence in American cities cannot be separated from the equally pressing problems of black male joblessness and family disruption." (pg.165)

Cyril Robinson argues in his article The Production of Black Violence in Chicago that blacks have been "used" throughout history by capitalistic America to accumulate wealth for others. An inevitable consequence is the "povertization" of a signif icant portion of the black population. Robinson asserts that "Out of such conditions violent crime becomes an attractive occupational choice." (pg.169)

After slavery was abolished blacks began a steady migration to northern cities in search of "better job prospects for themselves and educational opportunities for their children, as well as just to seek 'freedom' and personal safety from the hands of whites." (pg.170) During World War I northern employers advertised to the black population in the south in order to entice them north in order to fill job vacancies and opportunities created by the war.

The southern authorities initially reacted by endeavoring to prevent southern blacks from leaving the farms. When their labor was no longer needed, however, because of mechanization, the southern authorities actually "encouraged black flight, in some cases even hiring buses for the trip north." (pg.170) Robinson points out that government decision makers were aware of the social consequences of the replacement of the labor force by mechanization. Instead of reacting however, they chose to not o nly ignore the "consequences of these changes in agricultural organization but accelerated them." (pg.172) He further argues that "the result of all federal programs directed at southern agriculture had been to transfer the South's problem of 'surplus' p opulation to the North, or - putting it another way - to shift 'rural poverty to urban poverty'." (pg.173)

In the North, "by the end of the nineteenth century, white workers had succeeded in excluding blacks from most crafts, limiting work to domestic and manual labor, eliminating any black competition for jobs desired by whites." (pg.175) Blacks were used as surplus labor for breaking strikes. This in conjunction with job competition with whites has maintained hostile race relations and fueled riots and other racial violence.

Blacks were "forced" into segregated schools that were poorly funded, understaffed, under supplied, poorly maintained, and presented the Afro-American culture in a negative light. Robinson reports that "already in 1928-33 teenage pregnancies were highest in the poorest black areas; alcohol and marijuana use was widespread; vandalism of school property and of students' and teachers' personal belongings was a problem; black gangs terrorized and disrupted schools by threatening and assaulting pupils , teachers, and administrators; shakedowns of students entering or leaving school were common." (pg.177)

Because of the lack of investment of the city, public facilities deteriorated finally resulting in the disappearance of other institutions such as "churches, hospitals, and related facilities and professionals." (pg179) Robinson asserts that the re are factors that deter middle and upper class blacks from coming to the assistance of the black underclass. In fact "many middle-class blacks had more of an interest in the maintenance of the black under-class than in its disappearance. Historical, ec onomic, social, and cultural factors tended more to drive the classes apart than to draw them together." (pg.181)

Of the inner-city businesses very few were black-owned. One reason may be the ethnic identity that was diffused because of the Afro-American experience with slavery and the loosening of cultural ties that encourage cooperative endeavors - result ing in the Afro-American engaging in individual business endeavors that were much less likely to succeed.

Between 1935 and 1940 many cities began the urban renewal programs (funded by federal monies) resulting in the dislocation of many poverty-stricken blacks and whites as the slums were replaced with luxury apartments and commercial centers. One wri ter summed it up this way; "on the whole . . .federal policy has followed local practice, and on the whole, local practice has been discriminatory." (pg.184)

Robinson also emphasizes the rise of the female-headed black families that followed the growth of unemployed black males. He asserts that they "started off poor, had a limited capacity to earn because of low skills, needed to care for their child ren, had no spouse to add to the income, and often lived in low-income neighborhoods." (pg.187)

From the late 60's until the early 80's young black men, between the ages 18 to 19 years old have shown a decline in employment rates from 62.3 percent to 49.1 percent, while for young white males there has been an increase in employment. Robins on asserts that if the "legitimate" labor force was unavailable to the young black man, he will create his own "ladder of opportunity, temporary and destructive though it may be." (pg.201)

Robinson discusses the evolution of gangs, and how their activities evolved from neighborhood play groups over the years to include more violence and older members. As school dropout accelerated, gang recruitment also increased. During the 1960' s, gangs became increasingly involved with drug-trafficking increasing the violent nature of the gang. One black youth involved in organized crime declares, "If the people I saw driving Lincolns and Cadillacs in my neighborhood had been doctors or lawyer s, that's probably what I would have wanted to be, but they weren't; they were drug dealers and pimps who were making it." (pg.195)

As a result of these factors many black youths have adopted crime as a profession. Blacks have limited opportunities to pursue legitimate employment, so therefore have turned to illegitimate employment. Robinson has shown that all resources, "wh ether found in government policy, corporate enterprise, market forces inside and outside the inner city, or in their own racial group at a higher level on the hill, have some interest in keeping a certain number of young black males at the bottom or, more to the point, have no interest in them at all. One should not be surprised therefore if those at the very bottom create their own hill and turn all of these forces on their heads. Through the gangs powerlessness becomes power, daily boredom is replaced by melodrama; through drug sales, wealth is instantly created, accompanied by the possibility of acquiring a future of material goods and status. (pg.201)