Criminal stereotype of African Americans

History

Periods
Timeline Atlantic slave trade Abolitionism in the United States Slavery in the colonial history of the US Revolutionary War Antebellum period Slavery and military history during the Civil War Reconstruction era Politicians Juneteenth Civil rights movement (1865–1896) Jim Crow era (1896–1954) Civil rights movement (1954–1968) Black power movement Post–civil rights era
Aspects
Agriculture history Black Belt in the American South Business history Military history Treatment of the enslaved
Migrations
Great Migration Second Great Migration New Great Migration

Culture

Lifeways
Dance Family structure Film Folktales Music Musical theater Names Neighborhoods Newspapers Soul food
Schools
Education during the slave period in the US Education of freed people during the Civil War History of African-American education, after the Civil War Historically black colleges and universities Fraternities
Academic study
Studies Art Literature
Celebrations
Martin Luther King Jr. Day Black History Month Juneteenth Kwanzaa
Economic class
African-American businesses Middle class Upper class Billionaires
Symbols and ideas
African-American beauty Black is beautiful Black pride African-American hair Good hair Stepping "Lift Every Voice and Sing" Self-determination

Religion

Institutions
Black church
Theologies
Black theology Womanist theology
Non-Christian groups
Hoodoo Black Hebrew Israelites African-American Jews African-American Muslims Nation of Islam Louisiana Voodoo African Diaspora Religions

Politics

Organizations
Congressional Black Caucus Joint Center National Black Caucus of State Legislators National Conference of Black Mayors
Ideologies
Afrocentrism Anarchism Back-to-Africa movement Black power Capitalism Conservatism Garveyism Leftism Liberalism Nationalism Pan-Africanism Patriotism Populism Socialism

Civic/economic groups

Organizations
Association for the Study of African American Life and History Black conductors NAACP National Black Chamber of Commerce National Council of Negro Women National Pan-Hellenic Council National Urban League TransAfrica UNCF

Sub-communities

Multiethnic
African-American Jews Afro-Puerto Ricans Alabama Creole people Black Indians Black Seminoles Mascogos Blaxicans Brass Ankles Creoles of color Dominickers Freedmen Great Dismal Swamp maroons Melungeon Carmel Indians Redbone
Specific ancestries
Americo-Liberians Creek Freedmen Gullah Merikins Nova Scotians Samaná Americans Sierra Leone Creole
Sexual orientation
LGBT community

Dialects and languages

English dialects
African-American English African-American Vernacular English Liberian English Samaná English Tutnese
Languages and other dialects
Gullah Afro-Seminole Creole Negro Dutch Black American Sign Language

Population

US states
Alabama Arkansas California Florida Georgia Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Louisiana Maryland Mississippi Nebraska New York North Carolina Ohio Oklahoma Oregon South Carolina Tennessee Texas Utah Virginia
US cities
Black mecca List of neighborhoods Atlanta Baltimore Boston Chicago Dallas-Fort Worth Davenport Detroit Houston Jacksonville Kentucky Lexington Los Angeles New York City Omaha Philadelphia San Antonio San Francisco
Historic places
District of Columbia Florida Georgia Mississippi Missouri Omaha, Nebraska North Carolina South Carolina Texas West Virginia
Population count
US states and territories US metropolitan areas US cities US communities Places by plurality of population
Diaspora
Africa Canada France Ghana Israel Liberia Nova Scotia Sierra Leone

Prejudice

Racism
Black genocide Race and ethnicity in the US census Racism against Black Americans Reparations for slavery School segregation in the US
Stereotypes and media depictions
Blackface Criminal stereotypes Hollywood Magical Negro Minstrel show

This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. (February 2023)

African Americans, and African American males in particular, have an ethnic stereotype in which they are portrayed as dangerous criminals.^[1]^[2] This stereotype is associated with the fact that African Americans are proportionally over-represented in the numbers of those that are arrested and convicted for committing crimes. It has appeared frequently in American popular culture,^[3]^[4]^[5] reinforcing the negative consequences of systemic racism.^[6]^[7]

^ Gabbidon, Shaun L. (ed.); Greene, Helen Taylor (ed.); Young, Vernetta D. (ed.). (2001). African American Classics in Criminology and Criminal Justice Archived 2023-04-12 at the Wayback Machine. SAGE Publications. p. 349. ISBN 978-0-7619-2433-3.
^ Edles, Laura Desfor (2002). Cultural Sociology in Practice Archived 2023-04-12 at the Wayback Machine. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 124. ISBN 978-0-631-21090-0.
^ Tucker 2007, p. 4.
^ Vera, Harnan; Feagin, Joe R. (2007). Handbook of the Sociology of Racial and Ethnic Relations Archived 2023-04-12 at the Wayback Machine. Springer. p. 125. ISBN 978-0-387-70844-7.
^ Russell-Brown 1998, p. 77.
^ Fridell, Lorie A. (2016). "The Science of Implicit Bias and Implications for Policing". Producing Bias-Free Policing: A Science-Based Approach. SpringerBriefs in Criminology. Springer. pp. 7–30. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-33175-1. ISBN 978-3-319-33175-1. Archived from the original on 2022-12-05. Retrieved 2022-12-05.
^ Intravia, John; Wolff, Kevin T.; Stewart, Eric A.; Simons, Ronald L. (2014). "Neighborhood-level differences in police discrimination and subcultural violence: A multilevel examination of adopting the code of the street". Journal of Crime and Justice. 37 (1). Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press: 42–60. doi:10.1080/0735648X.2013.832480. S2CID 144926935. Archived from the original on 2022-10-17. Retrieved 2022-12-05.