I agree the bottomline factor explaining the crime statistics is that boys who grow up in homes without fathers are at a significantly higher risk of falling into criminal behavior. Obviously skin color (ie. being black) does not correlate with fatherlessness in any intrinsic cause-and-effect relationship, but I'd say fatherlessness is a…
I agree the bottomline factor explaining the crime statistics is that boys who grow up in homes without fathers are at a significantly higher risk of falling into criminal behavior. Obviously skin color (ie. being black) does not correlate with fatherlessness in any intrinsic cause-and-effect relationship, but I'd say fatherlessness is a bigger problem in urban black communities than in suburban black families, and this shows up both in much higher poverty and violent crime rates in urban black communities. One confirmation of this, per Thomas Sowell's research I believe, is that prior to the 1960s, when the two-parent black family was traditional and largely intact, American cities did not have a notable problem with criminal violence among black youth despite the poverty of the black community across the board. The expansion of the welfare state, which penalized marriage at essentially the same moment the "free love" movement gained momentum in society, changed all that. Out of wedlock births skyrocketed generally, and most negatively impacted our black population due to the income/wealth disparities which were the legacy of discriminatory practices. So I agree that we absolutely need to focus on fatherlessness if we're serious about tackling the problem of urban violence. But as the institutional push in society right now is to continue dismantling the nuclear family, (even BLM seeks to "disrupt" it), that seems sadly highly unlikely.
I agree the bottomline factor explaining the crime statistics is that boys who grow up in homes without fathers are at a significantly higher risk of falling into criminal behavior. Obviously skin color (ie. being black) does not correlate with fatherlessness in any intrinsic cause-and-effect relationship, but I'd say fatherlessness is a bigger problem in urban black communities than in suburban black families, and this shows up both in much higher poverty and violent crime rates in urban black communities. One confirmation of this, per Thomas Sowell's research I believe, is that prior to the 1960s, when the two-parent black family was traditional and largely intact, American cities did not have a notable problem with criminal violence among black youth despite the poverty of the black community across the board. The expansion of the welfare state, which penalized marriage at essentially the same moment the "free love" movement gained momentum in society, changed all that. Out of wedlock births skyrocketed generally, and most negatively impacted our black population due to the income/wealth disparities which were the legacy of discriminatory practices. So I agree that we absolutely need to focus on fatherlessness if we're serious about tackling the problem of urban violence. But as the institutional push in society right now is to continue dismantling the nuclear family, (even BLM seeks to "disrupt" it), that seems sadly highly unlikely.