The Differing Effects of Economic Inequality on Black and White Rates of Violence

VioLit summary: OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study by Harer and Steffensmeier was to test the relationship between economic inequality and rates of violent crimes disaggregated by race for Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas (SMSAs). METHODOLOGY: A quasi-experimental method was employed for this study. Secondary analysis was performed on data obtained for the 125 largest SMSAs in the United States in 1980. Arrest data (transformed into natural logs) for 1980 were taken from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports. These data were aggregated by SMSA, year, and race. Analyses were also done with estimates of "offending" (see article for further details on computations). Income inequality was measured in several ways. A measure of total inequality was defined as an overall societal measure (Gini coefficient) for all families. A measure of white to black income difference was used and was defined as the difference between the logged means of white and black family income. Within-race inequality was calculated for both whites and blacks and consisted of Gini coefficients of income among black or white families. Control variables included poverty, percent black, age, police per capita, population size, and geographic region. Poverty was disaggregated by race. Age was disaggregated by percentage of race aged 15-24. Multiple regression was used to analyze the data. FINDINGS/DISCUSSION: The offense rates were found to be strongly correlated with the corresponding arrest rate. Total inequality was found to be strongly correlated with each of the violent crime categories for both offense and arrest data. White to black inequality was less strongly correlated. Overall poverty and percent black were strongly correlated with all the violent crimes. Regression was done for aggregate offense rates for 1980. Total inequality and percent black were significantly and positively related to homicide (p AUTHORS' RECOMMENDATIONS: The authors stated that more theoretical work needs to be done considering the way inequality contributes to exceptionally high levels of black violence in urban areas. Other structural or community sources of variation in black rates of violence should be investigated, the authors argued. EVALUATION: The design of this study is of high quality, and its findings are as solid as the data from which they come. There is a lot to be said for analysis of disaggregated data and the closer examination of variables applied to specific groups which may differ. However, there are a couple of cautions to be taken. First, while the data are taken from the FBI and represent the best available data, the authors' claims that there is virtually no bias in the data disregards the problems of data collection which are dependent on police observation of offenses and citizen reporting for offense rates and police arrest behavior for arrest rates. These have not been shown to be completely bias free. More troubling are the authors' conclusions that there may still be this subculture of violence among blacks, although their own data do not even address this. The question for these authors comes back to black violence, although their study shows the clear connection between inequality and white violence rates. I would have liked to seen a more thorough discussion of the issue at hand rather than the speculation about subcultures of black violence. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado) Crime Rates Socioeconomic Factors Caucasian Offender Caucasian Violence African American Violence African American Offender Violence Rates Income Inequality Poverty Socioeconomic Status Black-White Comparison Racial Comparison Racial Differences Racial Factors 04-00