But the problem of disproportionate criminality among Negroes is not peculiar to Harlem or South Chicago or Philadelphia, nor is it an especially new problem. Between 1930 and 1959, when Negroes represented about 10 per cent of the population, Negroes made up 54 per cent of those executed for crimes. And in a typical year, substantially similar figures are reported across the nation. The FBI’s _Uniform Crime Reports_ for 1960 provide these figures on arrests for major crimes in 2446 cities having a population of 73,473,000: ------------------------------------------------------------- _Per cent _Offense Charged_ _Total_ _White_ _Negro_ Negro_ ------------------------------------------------------------- Murder and nonnegligent homicide 4,120 1,536 2,511 60.9 Robbery 25,501 10,994 14,155 55.5 Aggravated assault 127,728 70,122 54,737 42.9 Burglary 102,536 66,130 33,536 34.7 Larceny-theft 199,063 129,158 65,063 32.7 Forcible rape 5,326 2,459 2,778 52.2 Prostitution and commercialized vice 23,031 11,046 11,594 50.3 Other sex offenses 40,702 27,813 11,901 29.2 Narcotic drug laws 16,370 8,506 7,570 46.2 Weapons; carrying, possessing, etc. 32,124 14,729 17,005 52.9 ------------------------------------------------------------- When it is kept in mind that the cities included in the FBI reports constitute a fair random sample, North and South, small towns and large, the sobering nature of these figures becomes apparent. What can explain this dismaying tendency of the Negro toward disproportionate criminality? The same rationalizations (with a few ludicrous variations) are trotted out that are produced to discredit the figures on illegitimacy. Gunnar Myrdal devoted twelve pages of _An American Dilemma_ to scoffs, sneers, apologies, explanations, highflown fabrications, and wildly speculative generalities, all intended to whitewash the Negro record. First, says Myrdal, the statistics are no good. Figures on crime are generally inadequate, and statistics on Negro crime are even more so. Such data generally suffer from incomplete and inaccurate reporting, variations among States in definitions and classifications; and in the case of the Negro, the figures are distorted by special weaknesses owing to the caste situation and to certain characteristics of the Negro population. “It happens that Negroes are seldom in a position to commit ... white collar crimes [such as tax evasion, conspiracy to violate antitrust laws, fraud and racketeering]; they commit the crimes which much more frequently result in apprehension and punishment.” This is a chief source of error when attempting to compare statistics on Negro and white crime.