On Monday, the journal of Crime & Delinquency released a study which revealed that 49 percent of black men, 44 percent of Hispanic men and 38 percent of white men in the U.S. were arrested by the age of 23.
Led by University of South Carolina criminology professor Robert Brame, the study examined national survey data from 1997 to 2008, considering the arrests of teenagers and young adults for everything from truancy and underage drinking to more serious offenses.
Furthermore, the aforementioned numbers were increases over arrest data for men by the age of 18:
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Arrest rates for young women also increased between the ages of 18 and 23. Twelve percent of white women, 11.9 percent of Hispanic women and 11.8 percent of black women were arrested by 18, per the study. Those figures are basically identical. By age 23, the numbers began to separate, with 20 percent of white women, 18 percent of Hispanic women and 16 percent of black women being arrested.
Brame pointed to societal factors aside from watching too much television or lacking access to better educational opportunities as funnels into criminal activity. "Experiencing formal contact with the criminal justice system could also have powerful effects on behavior and impose substantial constraints on opportunities for America's youth," he explained.
[via CBS News]
