Expert: LM - 11/27/2005

Question
isn't it completely true that if there were more african american abortions, there would be a resultant reduction in crime?   I ask this because statistics show that black males account for 63% of all crimes in the us.

Answer
It is not clear, but likely yes.  And the reason that I say this is because an increased abortion rate is likely to lower crime across the board, as has been shown in a book that I will recommend at the end of this letter. What it says essentially is: If people who are more likely to have abortions are allowed to have them, then there will be a self-selected way of getting rid of criminal elements. This does not necessarily depend on race-- even if blacks are disporportionately represented at the lower strata of society.

For that matter, I don't know where you read that black men account for 63% of all crime. I've heard it over a thousand times that "statistics show......" I'm quite sure you've heard the Disraeli quote about there being "Lies, damned lies, and statistics."

There is a book that talks about this, and in which you might be interested. It's called "Freakanomics." The authors are: Levitt and Dubner. I'd strongly recommend that you pick it up-- along with some other books on the misuses of statistics.