Half of African-American males are arrested in US by age 23 - Study.

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By age 23, 48 percent of all American black men will have been arrested at least once, according to a new study analyzing national survey data from 1997 to 2008. The study is the latest evidence that young black males are disproportionately exposed to the criminal justice system. But it also shows high rates of criminal interaction among all young American males.

The journal Crime & Delinquency published the study Monday, which found that 49 percent of African-American males and 40 percent of Caucasians had been arrested by 23.

The authors, led by criminologist Robert Brame from the University of South Carolina, also wrote that 44 percent of Hispanic males were taken into police custody by the same age, “which can hurt their ability to find work, go to school and participate fully in their communities,” they wrote in a press release.

Researchers began tracking 7,000 young men between the ages of 12 and 17 from 1997 to 2008. They excluded traffic offenses but did note arrests for crimes ranging from truancy to violent assaults.

“By age 18, 30 percent of black males, 26 percent of Hispanic males and 22 percent of white males have been arrested,” the scholars determined. Those numbers increased drastically by over the next five years, something that was unique to males.

“While the prevalence of arrest increased for females from 18 to 23, the variation between races was slight,” the team wrote. “At age 18, arrest rates were 12 percent for white females and 11.8 percent and 11.9 percent Hispanics and black females, respectively. By age 23, arrest rates were 20 percent for white females and 18 percent and 16 percent for Hispanic and black females, respectively.”

The study builds on a previous study published in the journal Pediatrics in 2012, and both studies provide the first look since the 1960s at the massive scope of the criminal justice system and its data showing that one-in-three Americans are arrested by age 23.

The motivation behind the study was the swelling American prison population which, while it seems to have reached a plateau, is higher than any other developed nation. Previous studies have shown that even if an individual is never charged or imprisoned, merely being arrested increases the chances that they will be arrested again in the future.