25 Myths About Race and "Racism": Myth #5

Myth #5: Racial Profiling Is the Reason for Non-Whites' Higher Crime Rate

This old canard claims that "racial profiling" is the reason that non-Whites are overwhelmingly over-represented as the perpetrators of crimes in the FBI's Uniform Crime Report and National Crime Victimization Survey. Profiling is a useful law enforcement tool that accounts for no more than 1-3% of all the arrests and convictions of criminals nationwide. If these incidents were expunged from the public record the non-White population would still commit crimes at a rate exponentially greater than the rate at which Whites commit crimes. The vast majority of criminals are caught and convicted after a police report is filed and an investigation is done. No profiling is involved. Non-Whites are over-represented in the prison population for one reason only - they commit significantly more crimes than do Whites.