
          The Cold Hard Truth
          By Chestnut, J.L., Jr.J.L. Chestnut, Jr.
          Vol. 11, No. 3, 1989, pp. 16, 15
          
          With all the recent useless and stupid killings by blacks there is
budding concern by some decisionmakers into the real causes of black
crime and violence. Up to now, when that question was raised all we
received was a racist wink and, "Well, you know how some blacks
are!"
          Black violence, like drugs, now threatens even white neighborhoods;
hence a belated but urgent white concern in the genuine causes and
effects of black criminality and violence.
          For forty years I have been concerned with the outrageously
disproportionate number of black_people who end up in prison and on
death row. Poverty, despair, rage, and hopelessness are only part of
the problem. Racism in the criminal justice system and in the society
at large are also problems.
          Blacks comprise about 12 percent of the national population, but 46
percent of those incarcerated in jail are black and almost 41 percent
of those on death row are black. These statistics are both true and
misleading.
          Black_people account for 60.7 percent of those arrested for
robbery. Caucasians account for 74.8 percent of the people arrested
for embezzlement. Fewer than one percent of people convicted for
robbery are given probation. More than 85 percent of all convicted
embezzlers are placed on probation.
          The crimes that are seen as most dangerous also have a racist
twist. A lone black street robber is treated as more dangerous than
corporations who violate plant safety laws and cause numerous
deaths. Moreover, in certain predictable states the incarceration rate
of blacks exceeds the national average.
          In the same predictable states, far fewer blacks serve as top law
enforcement people, lawyers, judges and even jurors. That procedure
guarantees the predictable result. It always has. That was one of the
reasons for political discrimination and the wholesale denial of the
right to vote.
          People of color have the fewest resources and are the most
vulnerable to the consequences of poverty, disease, despair and
rage. A consistent message made by the predominant white culture is
that blacks are less than whites and are bad, ugly end generally "no
account." Self-hate and insecurity have been watchwords in black
America for 350 years.
          Self-worth, pride and dignity are lessons taught by many black
families, some black leaders and so-called activists. These lessons,
however, are often overshadowed by the awesome and overpowering gap
between the "haves and have nots." Blacks make up 32 percent of the
homeless in the United_States. Black unemployment is double that of
whites.
          This stifling poverty translates into poorer schools with a higher
dropout rate. A primary method for raising school revenues is property
taxes, but schools in poverty areas have a much smaller tax base. I
can take you to schools with cockroaches crawling the walls and to
classrooms where 

the ceilings are crumbling.
          These conditions cannot be corrected by building more prisons. A
plausible argument can be made that incarceration increases
criminality. A thinking society should be developing alternatives to
incarceration as punishment, especially for crimes merely against
property and not against people.
          After thirty years as a trial lawyer, I say without blinking that
the United_States' criminal justice system is being used to destroy
people of color, most notably black_people and the poor. There must be
a change in the part it plays in maintaining the current power
relationships in the U.S.
          Most of what politicians and public office holders say about crime
is not worth listening to. The more they talk the worse the problem
gets.
          Peace.
          
            J. L. Chestnut is an Alabama trial lawyer and
writer.
          
        
