Why are arrest rates high among young men?

A new study has revealed a striking phenomenon in the lives of young Americans. 

In the journal Crime & Delinquency, a group of college criminal-justice professors found that 49 percent of black men, 44 percent of Hispanic men and 38 percent of white men have been arrested by age 23.

The study is an analysis of government data, which tracked 9,000 teenagers and young adults over 10 years starting in 1997. It focused on arrest histories ranging from underage drinking to violent crimes, but excluded minor traffic violations.

The report also looked at young women and found that their arrest percentages differed from those of men in total as well as in racial demographics.

By the age of 23, 1 in 5 white women surveyed had been arrested at least once. The figure was 18 percent for Hispanic women and 16 percent for black females.

According to the FBI, violent crime arrests have declined over the last two years, and the arrests of juveniles declined by more than 10 percent from 2011 to 2012.

The research has its critics, but if the numbers are even close, they raise some provocative questions.

Do the large number of arrests of young men reflect the rising presence of law enforcement in schools?

If crime has been dropping for a generation, why do the numbers remain so high?

Has crime been dropping because young men have gotten so much attention from the criminal-justice system?

And after years of a get-tough attitude, does an arrest — even for a minor crime — place a burden on young men's futures that they are finding tough to get around?

We spoke to a guest panel of experts for the "Inside Story."

The above panel was assembled for the broadcast of Inside Story to discuss.

For future hard-hitting conversations, find Al Jazeera America on your TV.