Probably worth establishing if it’s actually true first though eh?
(I’m talking mostly about the US here, because I’ve not looked at the UK statistics) The number is somewhat irrelevant. The important thing is acknowledging that social conditions have led to a disproportionate rate of offending.
The question from states (particularly the US) always seems to be “How are we going to catch more of these young, black criminals?” rather than “What is it that’s happening that’s leading to us having more young, black criminals and how do we fix it?”
Again, watch The House I Live In. Its focus is drugs, but the statistics and analysis on black offenders (and associated arrest rates) is startling.
If anyone thinks that black rates of offending is higher in the UK/US because that’s just how black people are, you might want to consider a career with BNP/the MET.
We still segregate/isolate/differentiate in 2014, just in a more politically and socially “acceptable” way.
EDIT: UK black prison population in 2011 was 13%, despite only being 3% of UK population as a whole.
In the US, black prison population is 56%(!!!), despite only being 13% of national population.