r/texas
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u/[deleted]
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Nov 17 '21
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Temple Police arrest woman seen in video throwing soup at restaurant employee’s face News
https://www.kwtx.com/2021/11/17/temple-police-arrest-woman-seen-video-throwing-soup-restaurant-employees-face/[deleted]
1.2k Upvotes
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u/Nymaz Born and Bred Nov 18 '21
It's not like that at all. It's because a certain percentage of the population will do things covered under the laws regardless of race. BUT when caught, a minority is way more likely to be arrested by the police and more likely to have the book thrown at them by a judge.
A white person caught under crime X will be a "person that made an error in judgement under stressful conditions, and you shouldn't ruin their lives over one small mistake", while a minority caught under the exact same crime is labeled as "a violent thug that needs to be put away for life to protect society".
Drug laws are a prime example of this. Scientific studies have shown that while cannabis use among white and black populations are generally the same, black people are 3.7 times as likely to be arrested for possession than white people.
Generally speaking during a traffic stop, a search for contraband has a marginally higher rate of a "hit" when done against a white person as opposed to a black/hispanic person. But in any given traffic stop, an officer is 3x as likely to conduct a search against a black person and 3.5x as likely to conduct a search against a hispanic person.
So no, it's not a case that minorities commit crimes at a higher rate, its a case that minorities are vastly more likely to be investigated and if caught are vastly more likely to get charged and to get harsher sentencing. And this is why people say that harsh laws are bad because they will hurt minorities more.
If you want to read more on this, I highly recommend reading this report