Framing crime data as noncrime rates shrinks perceived racial gaps

Evidence

It is generally believed that the members of minority groups, such as blacks, have much higher crime rates than do the members of nonminority groups, such as whites (Tursky et al., 1976). Indeed, according to the ac-tual crime statistics compiled by the FBI in 1982, 2.76% of black citizens were arrested for a serious crime compared to .68% of white Americans. The between group difference does appear quite large. Problems 11 and 12 suggest, however, that judgments about the divergent crime rates in the two communities may be altered by how the data are framed. The apparently large difference between crime rates of 2.76% and .68% can be reframed as a relatively small difference between law-obedience rates of 97.24% and 99.32%. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2483

Categorization

• SEED: An essay angle: how police and media reporting choices about ‘crime commission’ vs ‘law-obedience’ framing quietly shape public perception of racial crime gaps and thus funding allocation.