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Roughly 44 percent of Latino men are arrested at least once on non-traffic-related crimes by the time they turn 23, according to a new study.
The reasons for the arrests – which can have long-term consequences when searching for jobs and applying for school and housing – ranged from underage drinking to violent assaults.
The study also found that nearly 50 percent of black men and 40 percent of white men are arrested by the time they are 23.
One of the authors of the study published this month in the journal “Crime & Delinquency” said the statistics could be useful in shaping policy so that people aren’t haunted by arrests when they apply for jobs, schools or public housing.Treating them all as if they’re hardened criminals is a serious mistake.
“Many, many people are involved with the criminal justice system at this level,” said Shawn Bushway, a University at Albany criminologist. “And treating them all as if they’re hardened criminals is a serious mistake.”
The peer-reviewed estimates didn’t rely on arrest records but instead on an annual federal Bureau of Labor Statistics survey of about 7,000 young people who answered questions each year from 1997 to 2008 on a range of issues — including if they had ever been taken into custody for something other than a traffic offense.
The authors found that by age 18, 30 percent of black men, 26 percent of Hispanic men and 22 percent of white men have been arrested. By 23, those numbers climb to 49 percent for black men, 44 percent for Hispanic men and 38 percent for white men.
Read full story: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2014/01/21/roughly-44-percent-latino-males-get-arrested-by-age-23-study-shows/