But whites far outnumber blacks in overall population. To show the real impact, you subject the 5x number to statistical "normalization" to show the real impact a given statistical population has on a given event. This is standard procedure in situations where there is a vast disparity in population sets.
To explain why this is important in this case, the raw numbers alone, without statistical population normalization, simply show that blacks commit 5x the number of violent crimes on whites than whites do on blacks.
Without the knowledge that whites outnumber blacks in total population by a factor of 5.2, one cannot understand the significance of a statistic that states that blacks commit 5x the number of violent crimes on whites than whites commit on blacks. If you didn't normalize the data, you might think that blacks outnumber whites by a factor of five in general population, which would explain the disparity in numbers.
This is the key point here: without normalization, and having no idea of the population sizes, you might erroneously assume that a black is just as safe (or in as much danger) being in an all-white area as a white would be in an all black area. Normalization of the data takes out that uncertainty and displays the true meaning of the data. This is why normalization is used in nearly every statistical type of analysis, because it highlights the true value of a given statistic with less uncertainty.
Or, put another way, lets assume the violent crime statistics were equal, that blacks committed 320,082 violent crimes on whites, and whites committed the exact same number of violent crimes on blacks, 320,082. It would be an extremely common conclusion for people who don't understand what those numbers represent (which is probably most people, particularly uneducated people or race agitators) to trumpet that whites commit just as many violent crimes against blacks, and that it is white prejudice and racism that leads people to believe that black neighborhoods are more dangerous to whites than white neighborhoods are to blacks, and that "white flight" is due to racism, and not a result of fear of violent crime. And that also would mean that white businesses that leave black neighborhoods are guilty of racism, instead of the real danger that they are constantly being robbed, held up, or looted, not to mention the physical security costs of doing business in a black neighborhood.
So that is why the 5x value is normalized to 25x due to population normalization, and displays more accurately the real danger the statistics convey with less uncertainty. But this 25x number is for all violent crime which encompasses everything from simple mugging (by gunpoint, knife or threat) and rape all the way up to murder.
if you separate out the specific types of violent crime that result in bodily injury (up to and including murder) such as pistol whipping, rape with additional physical damage, beatings with everything from hammers to soldering irons, shootings, stabbings, torture (basically anything that results in a need for medical treatment) the statistics change dramatically.
The definition of aggravated assault is: A person is guilty of aggravated assault if he or she attempts to cause serious bodily injury to another or causes such injury purposely, knowingly, or recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life; or attempts to cause or purposely or knowingly causes bodily injury to another with a deadly weapon. In all jurisdictions statutes punish such aggravated assaults as assault with intent to murder (or rob or kill or rape) and assault with a dangerous (or deadly) weapon more severely than "simple" assaults. (from West's Encyclopedia of American Law, edition 2. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.): Aggravated assault n. the crime of physically attacking another person which results in serious bodily harm and/or is made with a deadly or dangerous weapon such as a gun, knife, sword, ax or blunt instrument. Aggravated assault is usually a felony punishable by a term in state prison.
In this case, if you carve out only aggravated assault and normalize the data for the population disparity, you are 200x more likely to be a victim of beatings, shootings, stabbings, rapes, etc. if you are white victim encountering a black criminal as opposed to a black victim encountering a white criminal.
It is pretty grim, no matter how you slice it. When I read those statistics, I clearly understand that "white flight" (white people leaving neighborhoods where black populations rise past a given point) is not at all due to racism, but is due to self-preservation.
Thank you for your post.
some will be puzzled by these statistics (making the jump from 5x up to 200x, so I will try to offer an explanation
[If] the violent crime statistics were equal, . . . It would be an extremely common conclusion for people . . . to trumpet that whites commit just as many violent crimes against blacks, and that it is white prejudice and racism that leads people to believe that black neighborhoods are more dangerous to whites than white neighborhoods are to blacks
. . . but that would be wrong because since there are five times as many white neighborhoods as black ones, a black would have to walk through five white neighborhoods to be in as much danger as a white would be walking through one black neighborhood. Said differently, to create one neighborhood as dangerous to blacks as the typical black neighborhood is to whites, you would have condense all of the danger in five typical white neighborhoods down to one dangerous neighborhood which contained the same threat to blacks. And remember the counterfactual assumption that the number of whites assaulted by blacks was only as high as the number - rather than the factual factor of 5 difference.So that is why the 5x value . . . normalized to 25x due to population . . . displays more accurately the real danger . . .
But this 25x number is for all violent crime which encompasses everything from simple mugging (by gunpoint, knife or threat) and rape all the way up to murder.
If you restrict the “violence” being considered to only that which requires medical attention, I take it, the black-on-white aggravated assault statistic is four times worse than the 5:1 ratio of overall black on white assault.. . . which raises the issue of why blacks disproportionately claim “assault” when not physically hurt. Maybe because they can?