this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2025
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Translation: "A black man is familiar with freedom in America. Here it is, uncle Tom's cabin."

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[–] rowrowrowyourboat@sh.itjust.works 134 points 21 hours ago (12 children)

By age 23, 49 percent of black males, 44 percent of Hispanic males and 38 percent of white males have been arrested.

https://www.albany.edu/news/45558.php

[–] skisnow@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 hours ago

America bad

unironically

[–] Pendorilan@lemmy.world 19 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (1 children)

Maybe we just arrest people and throw them in jail way too fucking much. Land of the imprisoned, home of the DA

[–] JennyLaFae@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 9 hours ago

I called 911 as the victim of DV, they came and arrested both of us. The system is so broken.

[–] PugJesus@lemmy.world 10 points 13 hours ago

Arrest is different from imprisonment, it must be noted.

[–] Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de 34 points 19 hours ago (4 children)

All of those sound insanely high. If you take a group of 10 random adult men from the US, roughly four of them have been arrested?

Is a lot of it for underage drinking because that law is so far from lived reality?

[–] andros_rex@lemmy.world 17 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (1 children)

I got arrested as a kid for skipping school! I was being sexually assaulted in the school bathroom and was terrified of leaving the house, but obviously the way to solve that was cuffing me and throwing me in juvie.

[–] Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

Wow that's fucked. In my country the kids going to school is the parents legal responsibility, they can actually get fined if the child is delinquent. But never would the child be arrested.

I'm very sorry that happened to you, both the sexual assault and the police treatment.

[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 22 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

Roughly 25% of the country will be arrested, or put on probation at least once in their lives. That's been a steady statistic since the early '90s when Clinton signed his crime bill.

[–] Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 5 hours ago

Clinton signed his crime bill

I wasn't familiar, thanks for the pointer. This rhetoric "though on crime" has been going on from before my birth it seems.

We cannot take our country back until we take our neighborhoods back. Four years ago this crime issue was used to divide America. I want to use it to unite America. I want to be tough on crime and good for civil rights. You can't have civil justice without order and safety.

[–] DontRedditMyLemmy@lemmy.world 2 points 10 hours ago

Right, but this headline says age 23... hard to believe that!

[–] TheLowestStone@lemmy.world 11 points 16 hours ago (3 children)

I'm betting that this counts field arrests and not just people that are brought to the station, booked, and detained. By that definition, my close friend circle in high school would have been right in line with this numbers.

I, a white cis-man, was technically arrested twice before I was 23 (once for possession of alcohol and once for possession of marijuana) but I've never been brought to the station or read my rights. Both times a field arrest report was filled out and I was issued an appearance ticket with a court date. This was in NY so your experiences with the same crimes might be wildly different.

[–] Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

I'm unfamiliar with the term field arrest. If I get this right, this is what happens when you get arrested for a misdemeanour on site, cited and then immediately let go? Possibly with a requirement of turning up to a police station for booking, or to a court date?

I read a bit of the paper, and it seems they are simply using the data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997.

The relevant NLS topical guide says the following:

NLSY97 youth respondents are asked whether they have ever been arrested by the police or taken into custody for an illegal or delinquent offense (not including arrests for minor traffic violations) and the total number of times this has happened.

And looking up the phrasing in the questionnaire is also exactly the same

Have you ever been arrested by the police or taken into custody for an illegal or delinquent offense (do not include arrests for minor traffic violations)?

So I guess it would depend on whether respondents consider a field arrest an arrest and report it.

[–] very_well_lost@lemmy.world 1 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

I'm betting that this counts field arrests

Does this include things like traffic stops, I wonder?

[–] Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 5 hours ago

The questionnaire respondents are requested to leave those out. See my other comment. I dug up some detail.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 0 points 11 hours ago

shoplifting probably being a contributor, as people steal felony worth sometimes, or prior to them demoting the actual charges to an actual misdeameanor, even then its still an arrest.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 42 points 20 hours ago

Jesus fucking shit thats horrifying

[–] RaivoKulli@sopuli.xyz 35 points 20 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 3 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

it helps keep the for-profit business in business, as being arrested makes it you ineligible for most military services, not all but the more specialize ones will deny you based on that, it still negotiable, except for felony, or SA any sex related crimes.

[–] fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net 13 points 17 hours ago
[–] ObsidianZed@lemmy.world 25 points 19 hours ago

And that is based on data only up to 2008. You know that's so much worse now.

[–] IsoKiero@sopuli.xyz 13 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (3 children)

I'm in my 40s and have met, I don't know, at least several hundred people over my lifetime more than once. At least as far as I know none of them has been in actual prison. Few have spent their night on the jail when getting too drunk (and obviously done some stupid shit while wasted) and police have "offered" them a bed to sober up but that's it.

Obviously not in the US. I can't even imagine society where nearly every other male you encounter would've been in prison at some point.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 10 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

Same, except I am in the US. I suspect this is highly stratified by class, such that either nobody you know has been arrested or everybody you know has been arrested.

[–] SexualPolytope@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 15 hours ago

Yeah. I've (unfortunately) been in the US for the last few years. I'm at an university though, so most of my American peers come from a fairy rich (and mostly white) background. None of them have ever been arrested.

[–] Manifish_Destiny@lemmy.world 3 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

White male who grew up in Idaho here.

I have been arrested on several occasions and so have a number of my friends.

I would not consider myself poor or lower class either. Id assume your theory holds some weight, but I'd also assume it follows a lot of trends we wouldn't expect as well.

[–] MutilationWave@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

I was reading your comment, trying to decide if you're a liar or just that bougie. Then second paragraph. Most of my friends have been arrested at least once. I've been four times.

It is important here to note that in the US, prison is for sentences over one year and jail is under one year. That is not strictly 100% true but it's good enough to sort out the jail/prison terms problem. I've only been to prison to do some work. It was maximum security for what it's worth, and it was much nicer than any jail I've been too. People acted normally instead of totally fucking unhinged.

I'd rather do a year in prison than six months in jail.

[–] macaw_dean_settle@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Never been to jail or prison, don't know anyone who has. Then again, I don't hang out with criminals.

[–] MutilationWave@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 hours ago

You ought to give it a try, we're fun!

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 0 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

us does have the highest amount PRISONERS in the world, and incarceration rate. recividism is pretty high, as there is almost non-existent rehabilitation for offendors. also the fact they dont prepare inmates for the outside world years later, when things changed, so its almost impossible to get a job, so they commit another crime just so they stay in prison.

[–] plyth@feddit.org 12 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

and 38 percent of white males

The headline is bad, but my expectation would have been something low like 1% for white men. 30% worse treatment for black men is bad, but it is not the expected 5000%.

[–] MutilationWave@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (2 children)

Do you live in the US? Most people I know have been arrested.

[–] plyth@feddit.org 3 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Obviously not. I have read about stop and frisk and racial targeting. It never came up that at least a third of all males are arrested once. More puzzling, this doesn't seem to be limited to some states.

It's surreal. Why are people arrested? Are the arrests justified?

I can understand if the majority condones a police state to surpress the minorities. But if everybody gets arrested why is there not a successful movement for change? Do Americans know that it is different elsewhere?

[–] MutilationWave@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

Why are people arrested? So many reasons. Cops are stupid and racist covers a good bit. Now more than anytime since slavery. There's also the huge prison-industrial complex which makes big bucks keeping prisons filled.

Americans do not know that it is different. I saw something once that the vast majority of Americans die within 50 miles of where they were born. I'm of the opinion that travel cures ignorance, but most people just don't really do it. First off it can be expensive, and secondly going on a cruise doesn't count, I don't care if you got off the boat in Jamaica for three hours and bought some trash in a confined area. Sorry, but you haven't been to Jamaica.

[–] macaw_dean_settle@lemmy.world -3 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Live in US and never met anyone who has been to prison. You really need better friends.

[–] MutilationWave@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 3 hours ago

Do you think there's much of a correlation between quality of people's character and whether or not they've been arrested? Also I never mentioned prison but there are plenty of fine folks in the big house too.

[–] RandAlThor@lemmy.ca 7 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (2 children)

Why have so many people have been arrested in the US? This is crazy ridiculous.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

i was detained a well known chain store in the early 2000s for lifting, and at the same time they also ignored a tall white guy who went through security devices which caused it to beep, they completely ignored them and focused on me.

worst if your A POC, they target certain races in certain areas. back 90s 2000s i heard they went after alot of asians in LA area because of alleged gang activity. they almost never target affluent or near affluent areas.

if you a poc walking near even certain groups of white people you will get the immediate dirty look from patrons and even the employees of certains business sometimes or even change thier body language, never seen that when a white person does that.

[–] Doc_Crankenstein@slrpnk.net 2 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction —US 13th Amendment

Capitalism and Statism. That's why

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 13 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

That is an insane percentage, holy crap.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 points 11 hours ago

also preferentially targeting Race too, and then income wise.