Question Author
AOG
I've just been thinking about the stats you've put forward.
They're not right!
You know why? Because they're comparing apples and oranges.
Look at them again...can you see what I can see?
There are two elements to the stats...(and let's assume that they are all correct)
1. The overall number of black Londoners is 12%
2. 60% of street crime is committed by blacks.
Now, can you see what's wrong there?
It assumes that the entire black community is involved in street crime, whereas we can be pretty sure that it's young black men, between the ages of (say) 15-20.
Now, just work with me here...let's say that demographic forms about 15% of the black population...that means 1.8% of Londoners commit 60% of the street crime (or rather, the arrests - we don't have figures on convictions).
So, what we're saying is that a tiny proportion of the black community are going astray...
And it gets worse for your supposition. My figure of 15% committing 60% of the crimes assumes that every black lad between 15 and 20 actually is committing street crimes.
We both know that's impossible, so here's the final nail in the coffin of your argument...
Repeat offenders.
That reduces the stats even further.
Kids in gangs get arrested over and over again. Black kids in further education, kids with future tend not to.
So what we're talking about is a seriously small number of rotten kids who repeatedly offend, allowing the papers to paint a distorted picture of young black men as a whole.
I'm not disorting the picture or avoiding the issue...I'm addressing the figures.
They back up my argument.
Game set and match I believe.