Adding Another Piece to the Inequality-Homicide Puzzle: The Impact of Structural Inequality on Racially Disaggregated Homicide Rates

• NCJ Number: 172096
• Journal: Homicide Studies Volume: 1 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1997) Pages: 35-60
• Author(s): K F Parker; P L McCall
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 26 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article examines the effects of structural inequality on racially disaggregated homicide rates.

Abstract

Criminologists have produced mounting evidence that economic deprivation, social disorganization, and racial inequality are associated with homicide rates. This research incorporated both criminological and structural inequality theories into the study of the influence of structural covariates on race-specific homicide rates. The study examined the effects of economic deprivation, labor market competition, racial segregation, and racial inequality on interracial and intraracial homicide rates for a sample of US cities in 1980. Economic deprivation affected the intraracial homicide rates for whites and blacks, as well as the rates of white interracial homicide offending. Racial segregation and racial inequality contributed significantly to the black interracial homicide rate. In addition, labor market competition affected the rates of white and black interracial homicide. Tables, notes, references