DIMENSIONS OF RACIAL INEQUALITY AND RATES OF VIOLENT CRIME*

In: Criminology: the official publication of the American Society of Criminology, Band 25, Heft 3, S. 525-542

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to identify systematic sources of discrepancies in the macro‐level research on racial inequality and rates of violent crime. A review of the literature suggests three likely sources of discrepant results across previous studies: differing operationalizations of racial inequality, differing samples, and differing specifications. The analyses reveal that while sample composition appears to be relatively unimportant, operationalization of racial inequality in terms of socioeconomic status (SES) rather than income can lead to very different conclusions. For certain models, SES‐based measures are clearly superior to income‐based measures. However, slight modifications of the regression models can render the effects of racial inequality in SES nonsignificant. These results call for a skeptical assessment of previous evidence indicating a positive relationship between racial inequality and rates of violent crime.