There have been significant efforts by private media, social media, law enforcement agencies, and government bodies to publish less and less information about crime. For years, major media outlets have openly admitted to censoring the race of crime perpetrators claiming that it would lead to the stereotyping of Blacks. Activist groups have pressured many police departments around the nation to cease releasing mugshots claiming they perpetuate stereotypes. Government bodies have stopped publishing detailed crime data in the name of shielding Blacks from stigmatization.
How does this help anyone? The less the public knows about crime, the harder it is for them to make informed decisions about their safety.
The state government of Alabama used to publish comprehensive details on homicides. The State of Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center issued an entire book on crime each year from 1977-2017! However, the 2017 edition suddenly contains far less relevant information. Then in 2018, they completely stopped. Today, the agency only reports simple lists of the number of crimes reported in each city.
Just look at the wealth of information in the tables below. Wouldn’t you rather know these details than be intentionally kept in the dark?
*.pdf copy of the 1994 report online.
*.pdf copy of the 1995 report online.
*.pdf copy of the 2015 report online.
*.pdf copy of the 2016 report online.
In the 1990 US census, Blacks made up 25.2% of the population of Alabama.
The homicide rate for 1994 was 11.9 per 100k. The highest rate since 1981. There was a clearance rate of 69%, while 61.1% of known offenders were Black. There were 4.4 times as many known Black on White killings compared to White on Black killings. Blacks made up 66.9% of known rape offenders. Black on White rapes outnumbered White on Black rapes by 11.5 to 1.
The homicide rate for 1995 was 11.0 per 100k. There was a clearance rate of 66%, while 65.3% of known offenders were Black. There were 5.3 times as many known Black on White killings compared to White on Black killings. Blacks made up 68.2% of known rape offenders. Black on White rapes outnumbered White on Black rapes by 11.5 to 1.
Note that by 2015, there is now a significant Latino population, but they are counted as “White” offenders and victims in the data.
The homicide rate for
The homicide rate for 2015 was 7.3 per 100k. There was a clearance rate of 53%, while 65.2% of known offenders were Black. There were 6.7 times as many known Black on White killings compared to White on Black killings. Blacks made up 43.8% of known rape offenders. Black on White rapes outnumbered White on Black rapes by 5.9 to 1.
The homicide rate for 2016 was 8.1 per 100k. There was a clearance rate of 65%, while 65.1% of known offenders were Black. There were 3.2 times as many known Black on White killings compared to White on Black killings. Blacks made up 47.2% of known rape offenders. Black on White rapes outnumbered White on Black rapes by 8.4 to 1.
In 2015 and 2016, we see that Blacks made up a slightly higher percentage of known homicide perpetrators compared to 1994 and 1995. However, the Black percentage of rape offenders declines significantly. The rape clearance rate also drops, but the number of reported rapes is way up. The number of White females reporting that a White male raped them in 2015-2016 is 51% higher than in 1994-1995, but the population of the state has only gone up 14%. By comparison, White female reporting that they were raped by a Black male only increases 19%. Black females reporting a rape by a Black male drops by 25%. We will try to investigate this further in the future.
Looking at the reports, I wonder if the increase of White offenders (who are probably less likely to be involved in “stranger” rapes) has something to do with the higher number of familial/acquaintance rapes reported in 2015/16 compared to 1995/94.
A revisied definition (circa 2013) and a possible increase in Hispanic offenders (who are disingenuously labelled as “White”) may very well be a factor as well.