The 1992 interim study committee created by the legislative council, on the problems of black males, found that the following conditions exist:
- (1) Statistical studies chronicling the status of black males in American society reveal startling and disturbing conditions and trends.
- (2) By all indicia measuring achievement, success, and quality of life in American society, black males are facing a prodigious struggle for survival while fighting formidable opponents.
- (3) Black males make up only five and one-half percent (5.5%) of the population of the United States but are the victims of forty-four percent (44%) of the nation's homicides annually and comprise forty-six percent (46%) of the nation's prison population.
- (4) Statistics show that one (1) of every twenty-two (22) black males will die as a result of homicide and that one (1) of every six
- (6) black males will be arrested before becoming nineteen (19) years of age.
- (5) A major proportion of black males in America is virtually trapped in urban areas defined by poverty, violence, and drug abuse.
- (6) Black males suffer from more debilitating health problems, a higher death rate, and a lower life expectancy than males in other ethnic and racial groups.
- (7) Black females at least sixteen (16) years of age outnumber black males by more than two million (2,000,000).
- (8) Between 1973 and 1988 the average real annual income for black males between twenty (20) and twenty-four (24) years of age fell by more than fifty percent (50%).
- (9) The increasing misfortunes and the social distress bombarding black males in American society threaten the survival of black males.
As added by P.L.133-2012, SEC.29.