What if we treated the issue of race in our criminal justice system as we do in our medical system? That is, not as a cause but as an index. What do I mean?

Statistics in the criminal justice system show that blacks are more likely to be arrested for violent crimes, incarcerated, and victims of police shootings. Some conclude this is because of racism on the part of the police. In our medical system, however, we see a similar disproportionality. Blacks are more likely to suffer and die from heart disease and stroke. Why, then, do we not hear cries of racism and “Black Lives Matter” against doctors? After all, both crime and health are largely matters of behavior.

There could be a few answers, but I think most suppose, rightly, that doctors do not look at race as a cause, but as one of many indices, such as sex, diet, family history, etc. Their diagnosis of a disease can be verified if they find the same index of the same disease in other races, but varying proportionately by the occurrence of those causes. For example, they see the causes of heart disease and stroke as poor diet, obesity, and lack of exercise. These causes affect a human person regardless of race; it just so happens that these are more prevalent among blacks than other races, not because of their race, but for other reasons. …

Read more here:  crisismagazine.com/2020/why-did-this-happen