Race, offender, and incarceration figures tell us what???

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, head of the Justice Dept., has resigned.

Statistics can be used to prove anything, but I was a little taken aback when I found the following report on a KKK website entitled "The Color of Crime" (http://kkk.bz/main/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/colorofcrime.pdf).

Seems like someone is insinuating that blacks are "bad," should be locked up, and should be housed in the prison industrial complex.

What do these numbers really mean, and are they accurate? I contacted the FBI, and their spokesperson said he couldn't log onto the KKK website from his FBI computer to tell if the numbers were correct. Instead, he referred me to the FBI's statistics. Unfortunately, they admit that of the 18,000 policing agencies which could report data, only 6,115 or 34% do so. A USA Today report claims  that only 750 agencies report race data into the FBI, or only 4% (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/14/police-killings-data/14060357/).

The synopsis of the FBI's response says researchers on this topic should review all the data sets. "The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program is a nationwide, cooperative statistical effort of more than 18,000 law enforcement agencies voluntarily reporting data on crimes brought to their attention. 

"Each month participating law enforcement agencies submit information on the number of Part I offenses that become known to them; those offenses cleared by arrest or exceptional means; and the age, sex, and race of persons arrested.  Contributors provide only arrest data for Part II offenses. 

"USA Today likely requested the Supplemental Homicide Report File List (Justifiable)...Justifiable homicide data are not received for the states of New York and Florida, only two agencies, Chicago and Rockford, report justifiable homicide data in Illinois."

What do crime statistics tell us about crime in the U.S. by race?

Here's a start...

Total U.S. population - 307,007,000 (2009 U.S. Census data)
White Population - 244,298,000 (80%)
Black Population - 39,641,000 (13%)

Criminal offenders (2012 - FBI data)
White - 55%
Black - 28%

Arrestees (2012 - FBI data)
White - 68%
Black - 28%

Incarceration rates (The Sentencing Project)
White - 33.1%
Black - 36%

For more information on this topic, go to the FBI's website at: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/nibrs/2012/data-tables. Media requests can be made to:

Stephen G. Fischer Jr., Chief - Multimedia Productions, FBI - CJIS Division, 304 625-5820.