Whence Afro criminality?

 Image source

[This will be the final of our three-part series in reaction to the 2012-13 Trayvon Martin Affair.]


The country has been in an uproar in the wake of the trial for the shooting of an Afro teenager by Floridian George Zimmerman.  The question being asked by many Blacks is, 'Why are we profiled?'  Having looked at the data,, Those Who Can See concluded: 'You are profiled because Afro crime is very high relative to other groups.'

If such is the case--and we believe the data points in that direction--one may ask, 'Why is Afro crime high relative to other groups?'  Blackness experts have proposed several hypotheses, of which the most popular is:

'The history of slavery and exclusion makes us commit crime.'

As we have seen, the opposite is the case: As slavery and Jim Crow recede further into the past, black crime is increasing, not decreasing.

(Data Source: National prison census data for 1926-1986, 1990, 1995,

2000, 2005, 2010, also 1979 and 1984)

As well, Afros who emigrate to countries that never practiced slavery or colonialism still commit more crimes  than other groups there.

Disproportionate Afro immigrant crime in France, Switzerland,

Australia, London, Canada.

Furthermore, many Sub-Saharan countries are well-known to be dangerous places inside and outside the cities.

The U.S. State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security reports on Haiti, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Liberia, and Ethiopia.

In addition, other ethnic groups who've suffered oppression, such as Asian-Americans, not only don't commit more crime than Euros--they commit less.

Click for full-sized graphs on Asian life outcomes.

'Oppression makes us criminal' does not seem, then, as an argument, to hold water.

So where do the real causes lie?





We at Those Who Can See propose that on average, Afros possess a suite of character traits that, under the right circumstances, can lead to higher criminality relative to other groups.

Which character traits?

Richard Lynn has gathered a great deal of data on the question. Let us see what he has turned up.




1) Narcissism

Narcisissm, a trait often associated with criminal personalities, is found to be higher in Afros than in other groups.  Zeigler-Hill and Wallace:

'Black individuals have been found to report the highest levels of self-esteem of any racial group in the UnitedStates .The purpose of the present research was to examine whether Black individuals also report higher levels of narcissism than White individuals. Study 1 (N= 367) found that Black individuals reported higher levels of narcissism than White individuals even when controlling for gender, self-esteem level,and socially desirable response tendencies.'

Data Source

2) Conduct Disorders

Richard Lynn has also gathered the data on conduct disorders in children, which can be a predictor of future antisocial behavior:

Data Source

He has done the same for ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), which also has an association with criminal behavior.

Data Source

Possibly linked to the above two factors, we see that Afro students are disciplined at higher rates than others:

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3) Psychopathy

Conduct disorders in children often become psychopathic personalities in adults, which are strongly correlated with criminality.  Richard Lynn:

During the 65 or so years following its publication, the MMPI [Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory] has been administered to a great many groups. Mean scores have been published by different investigators for a number of samples of blacks, whites, Asian-Americans, Hispanics and American Indians. All of these studies show a consistent pattern: Blacks and [American] Indians have the highest psychopathic scores. Hispanics come next followed by whites. Ethnic Japanese and Chinese have the lowest scores.

Data Source

4) Child Abuse

Child abuse, as well, has been associated with criminality later in life.  Afros, again, seem to engage in it more than other groups:

Data Source

5) Future orientation

The inability to delay gratification is also linked to criminal behavior.  As a group, Afros seem to have this inability in higher levels than others. Lynn:

The first study to demonstrate differences between blacks and whites in the delay of gratification was carried out by W. Mischel in Trinidad in the late 1950s. He offered black and white children the choice between a small candy bar now or a larger one in a week. He found black children were much more likely to ask for the small candy bar now.

These results were replicated in 1966 by Seagull, in 1971 by Zytkoski et al., and in 1974 by Price-Williams and Gutierrez.

Other circumstancial evidence that Afros are less future-oriented is given by Lynn.  Reimbursing one's creditors:

 Data Source

Availing oneself of contraception, to prevent unwanted pregnancies...

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...as well as to prevent sexually transmitted diseases:

Data source

6) Risk Taking

Closely related to future orientation is risk-taking.  A propensity for risk-taking has been linked to delinquency, and it appears that Afros have this trait at higher levels than other groups.

This is seen by this survey of teenagers from the 1990s:



                   
                                                                                                                                                         Data Source 

  

As well as Afros' relationship with road safety:

 Data Source

7) Logical aptitude

 

Though we at TWCS are extremely wary of the 'IQ cult' which seems to have grown up in HBD circles, and prefer to focus on character traits, we would be remiss to not address this factor in criminality.  Though the reasons are not clear, it has been shown that low IQ and criminality are in fact correlated.  It has also been shown that relative to other groups, Afros score lower on IQ tests:

Image source: Al Fin

For those who feel IQ tests are an unconvincing measure of general intelligence, there are a number of other pencil-and-paper tests which can serve as its proxy.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress testing for American schoolchildren, for example:

Image source 

We also have the SAT exam, given to university-bound high school students:

Reading:

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Math:

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These students are also given the ACT exam:

Image source: Unsilenced Science

We may observe a similar trend in the MCAT, or medical school entrance exam:

Image source

As well as in the LSAT, its law school equivalent:

Data source

Or the famous Bar exam:

Data source: Steve Sailer

Various civil service exams tell the same story:

Data source: Military entrance exam, California teachers' exam, the infamous
 Supreme Court-reviewed New Haven firefighters exam

Again, general intelligence level is no magic key to understanding crime, but its frequent correlation means it must be considered at least one piece of the pie.

*     *     *

If such myriad character differences really exist between Afros and Euros at the group level, we are led to ask, Why?  From where do these differences come--Genetics?  Outside influences? Can we change them? Should we change them?

Different theories on the question have been put forward by HBD thinkers.  The best-known is the R-k selection theory, originally used to talk about the animal kingdom, but appropriated by the late J. Philippe Rushton to chart Asian-European-African biological differences:

According to Rushton’s theory, [...]  Blacks tend to be more ‘r’, having smaller brains and more offspring but investing less emotionally and otherwise in each of them while East Asians are more ‘K.'  They have larger brains and fewer children but invest more in them.  Whites come somewhere in between.  Such characteristics, and those associated with them such as intelligence, taken in the mass, have profound effects on the kinds of societies these racial groups produce.

Why did northern peoples become more 'K' ?

Thanks to the challenge of dealing with the colder winters and scarcer food supply of Europe and North East Asia, the Oriental and White races moved away from an r-strategy towards the K-strategy.  This means more parenting and social organisation which requires larger brain size and a higher IQ’ (‘Race, Evolution and Behaviour’ p 89).

This theory is appealing because it appears to explain, with relatively simple origins, a great many character traits we see today.

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In a similar vein, Edward Miller has proposed a concept called 'Parental Investment Theory.' He suggests that

'In cold climates males were selected for provisioning, rather than for mating success. In warm climates, where female gathering made male provisioning unessential, selection was for mating success. Male hunted meat was essential for female winter survival. Genes that encouraged mating success were selected for in warm climates. Negroids (blacks) evolved in warm climates, while Caucasians (whites) and Mongoloids (Asians) evolved in colder climates. Mating is assisted by a strong sex drive, aggression, dominance, sociability, extraversion, impulsiveness, sensation seeking, and high testosterone. Provisioning is assisted by anxiety, altruism, empathy, behavioral restraint, gratification delay, and a long life span.'

(See also: Provisioning or Mating?)

Plausible?  Looking at the long list of character traits on which Euros and Afros visibly differ, clearly manifested in the types of societies they create, one is left to wonder...

If there are in fact differences between these groups at the genetic level, it is likely they will be discovered sooner or later.  Genetic science is barreling ahead at break-neck speed.  The Unsilenced Science, for example, has written about the so-called 'warrior gene':

'I am referring to a gene called monoamine oxidase A, or MAOA [the "warrior gene"]. This gene produces an enzyme that breaks down the neurotransmitters that activate many of the brain’s circuits. [...] A pair of studies in 2008 found that the 2-repeat allele is associated with twice the rate of violence without child abuse coming into the equation.

Two small studies gave hints that the especially dangerous 2-repeat allele [of MAOA] might be more common among African Americans. One study [Widom and Brzustowicz] wrote that 6% of their non-white (but probably mostly African-American) male subjects had this allele. The other [Rosenberg et al]  had 5 of 37 (14%) African-American men possessing “rare MAOA alleles.” Those percentages are remarkable given that studies of white men have suggested that 1% or fewer have this gene.

[...] Well, at long last, Reti et al determined that 0.5% of white MAOA genes and 4.7% of African-American MAOA genes are this 2-repeat allele, almost a ten-fold difference. 

 Data source

If a single gene could offer some explanation as to why African-Americans commit roughly five times as many violent crimes per capita as whites, then wouldn’t studying it potentially save countless lives and deserve a Nobel Prize?'

(For more information on these genetic links, see the data JayMan has gathered as well as his incomparable bibliography on the subject.)

*       *       *

This tantalizing glimpse into the biology of crime is just that... a glimpse.  For the moment, all we can say with confidence is that on average, Afros and Euros differ markedly on a spectrum of character traits.  One of the ways this manifests (according to the circumstances) is by higher average crime among the former than the latter.  As to the possible biological causes of such a state of affairs, the theories are in, but the laboratory proof is still to be found.

As far as delinquency goes, it is impossible to say how much Nature and how much Nurture goes into the criminal class.  Let us hope that biology as well as the social sciences continue to unlock these puzzles, so that we may in turn create safer societies for ourselves.  Thank you for reading.

Previously:

We Are Wild Animals, Treat Us As Such 

Why We Profile