Examining the race, poverty, and crime nexus adding Asian Americans and biosocial processes

Abstract

This article examines race, poverty, and criminal behavior ignoring criminological orthodoxy adding two features that spoil the politically correct mantra that black crime results from white racism. Adding East Asians, who surpass white Americans in almost every index of prosocial behavior despite experiencing a history of prejudice and discrimination aimed at them, casts serious doubt on that contention. To be consistent with structural arguments for black poverty and crime, proponents would have to attribute Asian successes and low crime rates to pro-Asian bias on the part of whites to their own detriment. The second addition is biosocial science. This perspective links criminology to other more advanced disciplines and research methodologies and uses their theories, techniques, and technology, such as allostasis, epigenetics, DNA analysis and neuroimaging. No group has suffered more from poverty and crime than African Americans, and no group will benefit more from a forthright examination of its causes.