HOMICIDE, STRUCTURAL FACTORS, AND THE RACIAL INVARIANCE ASSUMPTION*

Graham C. Ousey

240 citations0/0 files storedCriminology

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Crime Patterns and Interventions Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse

Abstract

Structural theories in criminology generally assume that the effects of structural conditions on homicide are the same for all race‐groups. However, previous homicide research testing this assumption contains methodological shortcomings and has produced inconsistent findings. Therefore, the validity of the “racial invariance assumption” remains highly questionable. Using 1990 data for 125 U.S. cities, this study addresses some of the limitations of previous research in an effort to provide a more definitive examination of race differences in the effects of important structural factors on homicide rates. Contrary to the expectations of the structural perspective, the results from this study reveal substantial and statistically significant race differences. Specifically, the associations between homicide and several measures of socio‐economic deprivation (e.g., poverty, unemployment, income inequality, female‐headed households, deprivation index) are found to be stronger among whites than blacks. A primary implication of these results is that the current versions of many structural theories need revision in order to account for observed race differences in the effects of structural factors and to explain fully the black‐white gap in homicide rates.

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References

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2005RACIAL THREAT, CONCENTRATED DISADVANTAGE AND SOCIAL CONTROL: CONSIDERING THE MACRO‐LEVEL SOURCES OF VARIATION IN ARRESTS*2004Love Thy Neighbor? Moral Communities, Civic Engagement, and Juvenile Homicide in Rural Areas 20221 Cultural Mechanisms and Killing Fields: A Revised Theory of Community-Level Racial Inequality 2010An Empirical Assessment of What We Know About Structural Covariates of Homicide Rates: A Return to a Classic 20 Years Later 2001ASSESSING THE RACE‐VIOLENCE RELATIONSHIP AT THE MACRO LEVEL: THE ASSUMPTION OF RACIAL INVARIANCE AND THE PROBLEM OF RESTRICTED DISTRIBUTIONS*

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