In addition to the statistical distortions that result (1) from basic discrimination against Negroes and (2) from the Negro’s poverty and ignorance of the law, Myrdal finds a third “group of causes of Negro crime.” This, he says, is “connected with the slavery tradition and the caste situation.” Negroes in the South traditionally have been permitted to pilfer small items from their employers; the practice has imbued them with a general disrespect for property rights. And their feeling that there is nothing wrong with petty stealing “is strengthened by the fact that Negroes know that their white employers are exploiting them.” Beyond all this, Myrdal says, as a cause of “Negro crime,” is the Negro’s hatred of whites. The revenge motive figures in Negro muggings and headings: “Because the white man regards him as apart from society, it is natural for a Negro to regard himself as apart. He does not participate in making the laws in the South, and he has little chance to enforce them. To the average lower class Negro, at least in the South, the police, the courts, and even the law are arbitrary and hostile to Negroes, and thus are to be avoided or fought against. The ever-present hostility to the law and law-enforcement agencies on the part of all Southern Negroes and many Northern Negroes does not often manifest itself in an outbreak against them because the risks are too great. But occasionally this hostility does express itself, and then there is crime.” Myrdal concludes by asserting: “We know that Negroes are not biologically more criminal than whites. We do not know definitely that Negroes are culturally more criminal, although we do know that they come up against law-enforcement agencies more often. We suspect that the ‘true’ crime rate--when extraneous influences are held constant--is higher among Negroes. This is true at least for such crimes as involve personal violence, petty robbery, and sexual delinquency--because of the caste system and the slavery tradition....”