> A less sensational headline would be “Black people violate their parole and probation terms 11x more often than whites”

How would that be less sensational? First of all, the premise is inaccurate--it's not true that black people are violating their probation/parole at such higher rates, but rather that the average black adult, taken from the population of all black adults in the county, is 4.1/7.5 times more likely to have violated probation/parole (respectively) than the average white adult taken from the population of all while adults in the county. The rates at which each population violates probation/parole *they already had* are much more similar.

Also, you can't just add rates like that. That's not how math works. The headline you suggested would be a gross misrepresentation of the data.