Gender, Economic Transformation and Urban Homicide

• NCJ Number: 198659
• Author(s): Karen Parker
• Date Published: 2002
• Length: 77 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2001-IJ-CX-0008
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ)
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/NCJRS; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Dataset may be archived by the NIJ Data Resources Program at the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data

Annotation

This report discusses the effects of labor market dislocation on ethnic and gender minority groups.

Abstract

While studies of racial and gender disparities in economic opportunities are not new in the social science literature, this report explores the relationship between labor market stratification and urban violence among ethnic minorities and women. After presenting a review of literature addressing disaggregated homicide rates, race, gender, and work, the author presents the conceptual arguments guiding this research maintaining that labor market stratification and the industrial restructuring of urban areas will reveal higher levels of disadvantage for Blacks and women than for white males, and that labor market opportunities differ significantly across race and gender specific groups, contributing to disparate rates of disaggregated homicide offending. Sampling 168 U.S. cities in 1980 and 196 U.S. cities in 1990, the author found that according to Supplementary Homicide Reports from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Report, economic transformation within labor markets affected various members of race and gender specific groups differently. Specifically, using negative binomial Poisson-based regression analysis, the author found that Black males had the highest rates of homicide counts, that Blacks and women experience higher levels of joblessness than did white males, and that Black males had the highest levels of employment in the manufacturing industry. The author argues that heightened levels of urban disadvantage among Black males in the urban environment increase the homicide offending of this group. These findings indicate that researchers need to consider labor market change related forms of social control and disadvantage when discussing disaggregated homicide rates. References