New Perspectives in Policing MAY 2015
 

V E R I TAS

HARVARD Kennedy School

Program in Criminal Justice

Policy and Management National Institute of Justice

The Police and Public Discourse on “Black-on-Black” Violence
 

Anthony A. Braga and Rod K. Brunson 

Executive Session on Policing and
 

Public Safety
 

This is one in a series of papers that will be 

published as a result of the Executive Session on 

Policing and Public Safety. 

Harvard’s Executive Sessions are a convening 

of individuals of independent standing who take 

joint responsibility for rethinking and improving 

society’s responses to an issue. Members 

are selected based on their experiences, their 

reputation for thoughtfulness and their potential 

for helping to disseminate the work of the Session. 

In the early 1980s, an Executive Session on Policing 

helped resolve many law enforcement issues of 

the day. It produced a number of papers and 

concepts that revolutionized policing. Thirty 

years later, law enforcement has changed and 

NIJ and the Harvard Kennedy School are again 

collaborating to help resolve law enforcement 

issues of the day. 

Learn more about the Executive Session on 

Policing and Public Safety at: 

www.NIJ.gov, keywords “Executive Session 

Policing” 

www.hks.harvard.edu, keywords “Executive 

Session Policing” 

Introduction 

Police departments, especially in urban 

jurisdictions, are often called on to quell 

outbreaks of serious violence such as sudden 

increases in homicides, aggravated assaults 

and robberies. Inner-city residents and their 

children usually suffer the most serious harm 

when violent crime waves occur. Unfortunately, 

due to a long history of exclusion from important 

economic and social opportunities, residents 

of disadvantaged urban neighborhoods are 

primarily minorities and often black. Research 

has long documented that most violence occurs 

within racial groups and that black Americans, 

often victimized by black offenders, experience 

disproportionately high levels of violent 

crime. The term “black-on-black” violence, 

while statistically correct, is a simplistic and 

emotionally charged definition of urban violence 

that can be problematic when used by political 

commentators, politicians and police executives. 

To the vast majority of urban black residents who 

are not involved in violence or criminal behavior, 

the term invokes visions of indiscriminate and 

aggressive police enforcement responses applied 

to a broad range of black people. The term also 
Cite this paper as: Braga, Anthony A., and Brunson, Rod K. The Police and 

Public Discourse on “Black-on-Black” Violence. New Perspectives in Policing 

Bulletin. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of 

Justice, 2015. NCJ 248588

 

2 | New Perspectives in Policing 

seems to marginalize serious urban violence as a 

“black problem” that, in the minds of some black 

residents, may only receive a cursory response 

or, worse yet, be ignored by police departments 

entirely. 

We believe that most police departments in 

the U.S. are dedicated to reducing violence, 

investigating crimes, and protecting victims 

irrespective of race. However, poor analyses 

and inappropriate descriptions of urban violent 

crime problems can sometimes lead to the 

adoption of problematic policing policies and 

programs. Moreover, careless discussions of the 

nature of urban violence can further alienate 

law-abiding black residents who need and 

desperately want to partner with the police to 

create safer communities. In this paper, we briefly 

describe how news media coverage sometimes 

distorts racial issues, present a (hopefully) more 

cool-headed analysis of black-on-black violence 

(measured as a homicide problem), and consider 

how misconceptions of black-on-black violence 

coupled with over- and/or under-policing of 

black neighborhoods can further erode citizen 

confidence in the police. 

The Distorting Role of Mass News 

Media Coverage of Urban Violence 

As Surette (1998) suggests, what most Americans 

know about crime and justice comes from popular 

media’s portrayal of these subjects. Unfortunately, 

media outlets have an interest in presenting 

crime and justice issues in a way that captivates 

audiences and stimulates passions. Even though 

crime has steadily decreased over the last two 

decades, personal safety remains high on the 

list of public concerns, in part, because citizen 

perceptions are influenced by news media 

sources intentionally designed to make us feel 

passionately about the subject (Surette, 1998; 

Crayton and Glickman, 2007). Obviously, there 

are many positive aspects of intensive, fervent 

coverage of crime and justice issues: untended 

crime problems may be addressed, miscarriages 

of justice may be corrected, victims and their 

families may receive relief, and other public 

goods may be generated. 

However, the media can also distort crime and 

justice issues by constructing attitudes and 

perceptions that do not match the reality of 

contemporary crime problems. Media distortions 

of the reality of black-on-black violence in cities 

can take many forms. Persistent coverage of 

homicides and shootings in black neighborhoods 

without appropriate contextual information can 

perpetrate inaccurate stereotypes of blacks as 

innately violent people. When media outlets 

provide extensive coverage of homicides 

involving white victims, especially white female 

victims, but little ongoing coverage of homicides 

involving black victims, it promotes a perception 

among black citizens that killings of black people 

are less important than killings of white people. 

And, by unfortunate association, that the police 

are not devoting, or do not think they need to 
The Police and Public Discourse on “Black-on-Black” Violence | 3 

devote, sufficient resources to investigate black 

victim homicides. 

A casual sampling of characterizations of blackon-black violence in the media by political 

commentators, politicians and police chiefs reveals 

persistently vague definitions of the phenomenon 

and occasionally problematic associations with 

ideas about morally bankrupt behaviors in black 

families and communities. 

Jason Riley, Columnist, Wall Street Journal1 

“The black crime rate in 1960 was lower than it 

is today ... Was there less racism or less poverty 

than in 1960? This is about black behavior. It 

needs to be addressed head-on. It’s about 

attitudes toward the criminal justice system in 

these neighborhoods, where young black men 

have no sense of what it means to be a male or 

what it means to be black.” 

Chris Wallace, Political Commentator, 

Fox News2 

“The president talked ... about black-on-black 

crime. And as I looked into this, the numbers 

are just staggering ... should the African 

American community be focusing on that, the 

black-on-black crime, the carnage in our inner 

cities and not on George Zimmerman? ... When 

you have people demanding, ‘Let’s go after 

George Zimmerman,’ hate crimes, economic 

boycotts of Florida, that isn’t talking about the 

real problems in the inner city.” 

Rahm Emanuel, Mayor, City of Chicago3 

“The issue of gun violence is not limited to 

Chicago ... It’s an urban problem.” The urban 

violence, Emanuel said, “gets put in a different 

value system. These are our kids, these are our 

children, and the worst thing for us to do in 

my opinion would be to say, ‘Let’s not discuss 

this.’ We need to make sure that once a crime 

is committed, we don’t allow them back on the 

street to become perpetrators or victims. ... 

A piece of this is the culture ... Part of this is 

having an honest conversation, given the lion’s 

share of the victims and the perpetrators are 

young African-American men.” 

Michael Bloomberg, former Mayor, City of New 

York4 

“Ninety percent of all people killed in our city 

— and 90 percent of all those who commit 

the murders and other violent crimes — are 

black and Hispanic. It is shameful that so 

many elected officials and editorial writers 

have been largely silent on these facts ... 

Instead, they have argued that police stops are 

discriminatory because they do not reflect the 

city’s overall census numbers. By that flawed 

logic, our police officers would stop women as 

often as men, and senior citizens as often as 

young people ... To do so would be a colossal 

misdirection of resources and would take 

the core elements of police work — targeting 

high-crime neighborhoods and identifying 

suspects based on evidence — out of crimefighting ... . The absurd result of such a strategy 
 

4 | New Perspectives in Policing 

would be far more crimes committed against 

black and Latino New Yorkers. When it comes 

to policing, political correctness is deadly.” 

Ray Kelly, former Commissioner, New York 

Police Department5 

“The stark reality is that crime happens in 

communities of color ... About 70% to 75% 

of the people described as committing 

violent crimes — assault, robbery, shootings, 

grand larceny — are described as being 

African-American.” ... “The percentage of 

people who are stopped is 53% AfricanAmerican ... So really, African-Americans 

are being under stopped in relation to the 

percentage of people being described as 

being the perpetrators of violent crime.” 

There are certainly other concerning perspectives 

put forth in the popular media on this issue. It 

is important to recognize, however, that some 

police chiefs steer clear of vague black-onblack violence descriptions by focusing on 

“disparate victimization” in black disadvantaged 

neighborhoods. For instance: 

Edward A. Flynn, Chief, Milwaukee Police 

Department6 

“Here’s what’s disproportionate to me ... With 

about 40 percent of Milwaukee’s population, 

African-Americans represent 80 percent 

of our homicide victims. They represent 60 

percent of our robbery victims and 80 percent 

of our aggravated assault victims.” ... “It’s as 

though the arresting of African-Americans 

takes place in a vacuum ... If I draw an ellipse 

over our poorest neighborhoods and then 

find an ellipse and draw it where our most 

911 calls are, and then draw the ellipse over 

where most of our crime victims are ... it’s the 

same neighborhoods and the same zip codes.” 

Nevertheless, the explicit and implicit promotion 

of inaccurate and vague descriptions is generally 

offensive to black Americans. 

Before we begin to analyze the issue more closely, 

it is worth noting what black-on-black homicide 

is not. We believe the following ideas are wrong 

and ultimately not helpful. 

•	 Black-on-black homicide is random. The term 

“random” is commonly defined as “proceeding, 

made, or occurring without definite aim, 

reason, or pattern.”7 The perspective that 

black-on-black homicide is not patterned 

lends itself to an interpretation that any 

citizen could spontaneously be the victim of 

a horrendous crime at any place or any time. 

The promotion of this misunderstanding may 

result in heightened fear of violence among 

black residents and visitors to majority black 

neighborhoods. Increased fear of violence 

may undermine the full participation of black 

residents in neighborhood life and lead to 

weakened community control over local youth 

and public spaces. 

•	 Black-on-black homicide problems are 

symptomatic of persistent lawless behavior 

by black people. This wrongheaded idea 
The Police and Public Discourse on “Black-on-Black” Violence | 5 

leads to an implicit assumption among 

the public that a high proportion of black 

residents are involved in crime and disorder. 

This misperception promotes uncertainty 

regarding whether blacks share the moral 

standards of mainstream society and, as 

a result, diminishes levels of mainstream 

concern and determination to find evidencebased responses to the problem. 

•	 Black-on-black homicide problems are driven 

by black people’s tolerance for criminal and 

immoral behavior. This false perspective can 

influence police officers to mistakenly view 

entire black neighborhoods as supportive of 

criminal behavior and exacerbate an already 

fragile relationship. 

Black Homicide Victimization and Black 

Homicide Offending Rates 

In this section, we focus on black and white 

comparisons. This crude categorization stems 

from a lack of crime data that consistently classify 

information for Hispanics and non-Hispanics 

as well as for Asians and Native Americans 

(Lauritsen and Sampson, 1998). Consequently, 

most analysis of disparity and discrimination 

in crime and criminal justice has focused on 

comparisons between blacks and whites. In 

general, the available scientific evidence on crime 

victimization suggests the following patterns: 

•	 Blacks suffer much higher rates of personal 

violence and violent victimization than 

whites.8

 As discussed in greater detail 

below, this is particularly true for homicide 

victimization. 

•	 Racial differences are reduced substantially 

for household crimes and personal theft 

victimization. 

•	 Although whites represent the majority of 

suspects arrested for all crimes, blacks are 

disproportionately more likely to be arrested 

for violent crimes, especially homicide, 

relative to their share of the U.S. population.9 

Between 1980 and 2008, blacks were 

disproportionately represented as both homicide 

victims and offenders (Cooper and Smith, 2011). 

The homicide victimization rate for blacks (27.8 

per 100,000) was six times higher than the rate 

for whites (4.5 per 100,000) (figure 1). Blacks 

accounted for slightly more than 51 percent of 

all gun homicide victims between 1980 and 2008, 

despite representing only about 13 percent of the 

U.S. population. The homicide offending rate for 

Black

White

Figure 1. Homicide Victimization Rates, by Race, 1980-2008 

Percent

50

40

30

20

10

0

1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2008

Year

Source: Cooper and Smith (2011: 11). 
 

6 | New Perspectives in Policing 

Figure 2. Homicide Offending Rated by Race, 1980-2008 

Percent

60

40

20

0

Black

White

1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2008

Year

Source: Cooper and Smith (2011: 11). 

blacks (34.4 per 100,000) was almost eight times 

higher than the rate for whites (4.5 per 100,000) 

(figure 2). The vast majority of homicides are intraracial, with 84 percent of white victims killed by 

whites and 93 percent of black victims killed by 

blacks (figure 3). Black males between the ages 

of 18 and 24 are dramatically overrepresented in 

homicide. Homicides of young black males in this 

age category peaked at 195.9 victimizations per 

100,000 in 1993 and subsequently declined to 91.1 

victimizations per 100,000 in 2008. Homicides by 

young adult black males peaked at 365 offenders 

per 100,000 in 1993 and subsequently declined to 

175.8 offenders per 100,000 in 2008. 

Black homicide victimizations are less likely 

Figure 3. Homicides, by Race of Offender and Victim, 1980-2008 

Percent

60 

40 

20 

0 

Black on black 

White on white 

Black on white 

White on black 

1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2008 

Year

Source: Cooper and Smith (2011: 13). 

to be cleared by arrest than white homicide 

victimizations. A recent analysis of 2000-2007 

homicide data from the National IncidentBased Reporting System (NIBRS) reported that 

57.2 percent of white homicide victim cases 

were cleared by arrest while only 50.6 percent 

of black homicide victim cases were cleared by 

arrest (Roberts and Lyons, 2011). In general, the 

circumstances of homicide incidents powerfully 

influence clearance rates. For example, offenders 

in gang-related and drug-related homicides 

are much less likely to be arrested by homicide 

detectives (Wellford and Cronin, 2000), in part 

due to lack of witness cooperation. Further, black 

males are more likely than white males to be 

involved in these kinds of homicide incidents 

(Cook and Laub, 2002). Without citizens coming 

forward to provide detectives with much needed 

information, investigations of gang and drug 

homicides can hit dead ends quickly, with no 

substantive leads. 
The Police and Public Discourse on “Black-on-Black” Violence | 7 

Some analysts suggest that the killings of black 

male victims receive less investigative time 

and effort from homicide detectives (Roberts 

and Lyons, 2011), whereas others suggest that 

white female homicide victims receive more 

investigative time and effort (Holcomb, Williams, 

and Demuth, 2004). Most available research on 

clearance rates finds little evidence of homicide 

detectives valuing or devaluing victims based 

on race (Puckett and Lundman, 2003; Litwin, 

2004; Lundman and Myers, 2012), but there are 

some noteworthy exceptions. For instance, a 

multivariate analysis of homicides in Los Angeles 

County between 1990 and 1994 suggested that 

white homicide victims received additional 

investigation attention and, as a result, their cases 

were more likely to be solved than those involving 

nonwhite homicide victims (Lee, 2005). 

The extremely high homicide victimization 

and offending rates for young black males in 

the early 1990s has been tied to gun violence 

epidemics tipped off by the initiation of crack 

cocaine sales in most U.S. cities during the 

late 1980s (Blumstein, 1995; Braga, 2003; Cork, 

1999). Although the intensity of black homicide 

rates has changed over the last century, the 

persistence of the black-white homicide rate 

gap has not (Hawkins, 1999). Criminologists 

have long considered the reasons for observed 

racial disparities in violence and have put forth 

a variety of explanations, including individual 

factors (most notably, IQ and self-control), 

family socialization, subculture of violence and 

economic deprivation theories (see, e.g., Wilson 

and Herrnstein, 1985). Unfortunately, most of 

these perspectives have been unsatisfactory in 

explaining observed differences in homicide 

victimization and offending rates for young black 

and white males. As summarized by Lauritsen 

and Sampson (1998: 65-66): 

Constitutional explanations are problematic 

on empirical grounds — the variations within 

any minority group are greater than the 

variations between them. Although there 

is good evidence that family socialization 

inf luences children’s delinquency and 

aggressive behavior patterns, there is no 

consistent evidence that factors such as lack 

of supervision and erratic/harsh discipline 

account for race differences in crime when 

socioeconomic conditions are taken into 

account. Subcultural explanations of 

group variation in offending have yet to 

show that black and white Americans differ 

significantly in their values and attitudes 

regarding crime, or that these differences 

in values have an independent influence 

on offending disparities. Finally, research 

emphasizing access to the legitimate 

economic system typically finds that race 

differences persist even after controlling for 

socioeconomic status. 

Another diagnostic approach is to examine 

the community-level underpinnings of racial 

disparities in violent crime to identify the 

neighborhood characteristics that lead to high 

rates of violence (Sampson and Wilson, 1985). 

Empirical evidence suggests that the capacity 

of neighborhood residents to achieve a common 

set of goals and exert control over youth and 

public spaces, termed “collective efficacy,” 
 

 

 

 

8 | New Perspectives in Policing 

protects against serious violence (Sampson, 

Raudenbush and Earls, 1997). The presence 

of community-based organizations, which 

draw membership from individuals within 

and outside specific neighborhoods, predicts 

collective efficacy and collective civic action 

(Sampson, 2012). Concentrated disadvantage in 

urban neighborhoods, which are often populated 

by black residents, undermines local collective 

efficacy and gravely limits the ability of residents 

to address serious violent crime problems 

(Sampson and Wilson, 1985). As a result, urban 

homicides, largely committed with guns and 

perpetrated by and against young black men, 

tend to concentrate in disadvantaged black 

neighborhoods. 

Urban environments experience the largest 

proportion of homicides, and black Americans 

tend to make up larger shares of urban 

populations relative to suburban and rural 

areas. Between 1980 and 2008, nearly 58 percent 

of homicides occurred in U.S. cities with a 

population of 100,000 or more (Cooper and Smith, 

2011). More than one-third of all homicides in the 

U.S. during that same time period occurred in 

cities with one million or more residents. Citylevel analyses provide an important opportunity 

to understand the nature of homicide problems 

better. While useful in describing objective 

information on homicide incidents such as age, 

race, sex and weapon type, national data systems, 

such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s 

Supplementary Homicide Reports, are wellknown to be limited in providing reliable and 

valid information on homicide circumstances 

and relationships between victims and offenders 

(Braga, Piehl and Kennedy, 1999; Maxfield, 

1989; Riedel and Zahn, 1985). Careful withincity research on homicide facilitates a deeper 

understanding of the situations, dynamics and 

relationships associated with elevated rates of 

black homicide victimization and offending. 

City-Level Analysis of Black Homicide Victims 

and Black Homicide Offenders 

We use detailed data on homicides in Boston 

to examine the nature of black homicide 

victimization and offending in urban settings. 

Although modest differences are associated 

with variations in local dynamics across other 

U.S. cities, the basic picture of black homicide 

victimization as highly concentrated among 

a small number of active offenders involved 

in high-risk social networks is essentially the 

same. Research has consistently documented 

that violence driven by conflicts within and 

among gangs, drug-selling crews and other 

criminally active groups generate the bulk of 

urban homicide problems (see, e.g., Block and 

Block, 1993; Kennedy, Piehl and Braga, 1996; 

Papachristos, 2009; Tita et al., 2004). 

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, 24 percent of 

Boston’s estimated 618,000 residents identified 

themselves as black. Between 2000 and 2013, 

Boston experienced 836 homicides. Nearly 74 

percent of Boston homicide victims were black 

(615 of 836), and roughly 68 percent of arrested 

homicide offenders were also black (294 of 430). 

In cleared black homicides (218, 35.4 percent 

of 615), 91.7 percent of the offenders were black 
 

 

The Police and Public Discourse on “Black-on-Black” Violence | 9 

(200 of 218). As figure 4 shows, the year-to-year 

variation in total homicide counts in Boston is 

largely driven by black homicide victimization 

rates. 

Black homicide victims were primarily young 

(mean age = 26.6 years, 54 percent were age 

24 and younger), overwhelmingly male (91.1 

percent), and usually died from gunshot wounds 

(84.1 percent). Arrested black homicide offenders 

were also primarily young (mean age = 25.0 

years, 59.5 percent were age 24 and younger) 

and overwhelmingly male (94.2 percent). In 

addition, 78 percent of black homicide victims 

(480 of 615) and almost 90 percent of arrested 

black homicide offenders (264 of 294) were known 

to the Massachusetts criminal justice system 

before the homicide incident. Black homicide 

victims and arrested black homicide offenders 

known to the criminal justice system averaged, 

respectively, 12.4 and 12.7 prior arraignments 

in Massachusetts courts for a variety of violent, 

drug, property and disorder offenses. So these 

Figure 4. Total Homicide Victims and Black Homicide Victims in Boston, 2000-2013 

Number of Homicide Victims 

80 

70 

60 

50 

40 

30 

20 

10 

0 

Total Homicide Victims 

Black Homicide Victims 

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 

Year 

two groups — homicide offenders and victims — 

are essentially the same. Figure 5 (page 10) shows 

the previous criminal justice system involvement 

of known black homicide victims and known 

arrested black homicide offenders. Probation 

supervision, commitments to secure facilities 

Circumstances of Boston Homicide Victims by Race, 2000-2013 

Non-Hispanic Black Non-Hispanic White 

Circumstances N Percent N Percent 

Gang-related 315 55.0 4 4.4 

Personal dispute/argument 95 16.6 34 37.8 

Drug-related 84 14.7 14 15.6 

Family/domestic violence 34 5.9 11 12.2 

Robbery 16 2.8 16 17.8 

Other/unknown 29 5.9 11 12.2 

Total 573 100.0 90 100.0 

Note: Percentages may not add up because of rounding. 
10 | New Perspectives in Policing 

Figure 5. Criminal Justice System Involvement of Known Black Homicide Victims 

and Known Arrested Black Homicide Offenders in Boston, 2000-2013 

Percent

100 

90 

80 

70 

60 

50 

40 

30 

20 

10 

0 

72.9 73.6 

27.7 

33.3 

58.8 

66.7 

48.1 

52.9 

Prior Probation Active Probation Prior Commitment to Prior Felony
 

Supervision Supervision Secure Facility Conviction
 

% Black Homicide Victims 

% Black Homicide Offenders 

Note: N = 480 for known black homicide victims; N = 265 for known arrested black homicide offenders. 

and felony convictions characterized the prior 

criminal justice system experiences of both of 

these groups. 

A majority of black homicide victims (78.9 percent, 

485 of 618) were killed in the Roxbury, Dorchester 

and Mattapan neighborhoods of Boston. 

Inhabitants of these areas are mostly black, and 

these communities are characterized by high 

levels of social and economic disadvantage. 

Homicides are not evenly spread throughout these 

neighborhoods, though. In fact, most streets did 

not experience any homicide incidents between 

2000 and 2013. Rather, black homicide incidents 

tend to recur in very specific places, such as in 

and around public housing dwellings, gang turfs 

and street drug markets. A recent analysis by 

Braga, Papachristos and Hureau (2010) revealed 

that only 5 percent of Boston’s street blocks and 

intersections experienced nearly 74 percent of all 

fatal and nonfatal shootings in the city between 

1980 and 2008. The most violent 60 street blocks 

and intersections experienced more than 1,000 

shootings during this time period. 

Boston, like many cities, suffers gang-related 

violence that tends to generate a large number 

of black homicide victims. The table on page 9 

presents the circumstances of 573 non-Hispanic 

black and 90 non-Hispanic white homicide 

victims killed in Boston between 2000 and 2013. 

The share of gang-related homicides accounts 

for the greatest difference in the circumstances 

of white and black homicides. Few Boston black 

male youths are gang members. The most recent 

estimate, in 2006, suggests that only 1 percent 

of Boston’s population between the ages of 14 

and 24 (Braga, Hureau and Winship, 2008) were 

members of street gangs involved in gun violence. 

However, black male youth participation in these 

high-risk social networks that promote violent 

norms to settle disputes puts them at elevated risk 

of becoming a perpetrator or a victim of fatal gun 

violence. 

A recent study analyzed detailed police records 

to map the social networks of 763 individuals 

in one Boston community, using non-arrest 

observations to create links between individuals 

(the nodes) who were observed hanging out 

together (Papachristos, Braga and Hureau, 2012). 

The study found that 85 percent of all shootings 

in this community occur within the observed 

network (less than 3 percent of total neighborhood 

population)—nearly all of which are driven by 10 
The Police and Public Discourse on “Black-on-Black” Violence | 11 

different gangs, also observed in the network. The 

risk of fatal and nonfatal gun victimization within 

the network spreads outward from other shooting 

victims to infect their friends and associates. In 

fact, each “handshake” closer one is to a shooting 

victim increases one’s own probability of getting 

shot by approximately 25 percent (figure 6). 

Boston Police Department (BPD) homicide 

detectives cleared 50.9 percent of all homicide 

victimizations by arrest or exceptional 

circumstances, such as the subsequent suicide 

or murder of the offender, between 2000 and 

2013 (426 of 836 homicide victims). Incidents 

involving homicides of white non-Hispanic 

victims had an 80.0 percent clearance rate (72 

of 90 non-Hispanic white homicide victims). 

However, BPD homicide detectives only cleared 

35.9 percent of non-Hispanic black homicide 

victims during this same time period (204 of 

573 non-Hispanic black homicide victims). This 

disparity seems to be strongly influenced by very 

low clearance rates for gang-related homicides. 

Only 26.0 percent of gang-related non-Hispanic 

black homicides (82 of 315) were cleared by arrest 

or exceptional circumstances between 2000 and 

2013. Data derived from qualitative interviews 

with BPD homicide detectives suggest that low 

levels of witness cooperation in gang homicide 

cases, driven by citizen fear of violent reprisals 

or participation in criminal social networks 

with norms against sharing information with 

the police, seriously limit investigators’ ability 

to make arrests in these kinds of cases. 

It is worth noting here that the criminal dynamics 

that characterize high levels of homicides and 

Figure 6. Social Networks of High-Risk Individuals in a Boston Community, 2008 

Source: Papachristos, Braga and Hureau (2012: 998). 

Note: Grey nodes represent individuals in the network. Red nodes represent individuals in the network 

who suffered a fatal or nonfatal gunshot wound. 

lower clearance rates in black neighborhoods 

are not race-based. Indeed, disadvantaged white 

neighborhoods of Boston have been known to 

exhibit similar patterns of violence and lack of 

cooperation with the police. For instance, the 

Charlestown, South Boston and North End 

neighborhoods of Boston were noted strongholds 

of Irish and Italian organized crime organizations 

during the 1960s through the 1980s that were 

characterized by repeated, unsolved killings by 

warring factions of the organizations (Lehr and 

O’Neill, 2000; MacDonald, 1999; O’Neill and 

Lehr, 1989). Criminal subcultures that embrace 

violent norms in settling disputes and promote 

anti-police attitudes exist in impoverished 

neighborhoods with varied racial compositions. 

However, black neighborhoods suffer higher rates 

of this kind of criminal network violence due to 
 

12 | New Perspectives in Policing 

the more intense concentration of disadvantage in 

these neighborhoods (Sampson and Wilson, 1985). 

How Weak Descriptions Further Erode 

Community Trust and Confidence 

Research and analysis thus reveal that black-onblack homicide, and by extension more general 

black-on-black violence, is largely concentrated 

among a small number of criminally active 

individuals and occurs in a small number 

of high-risk settings within disadvantaged 

neighborhoods. It is important to remember, 

however, that many black homicide victims are 

not involved in any criminal activity. For instance, 

in 2009, 15-year-old Soheil Turner was waiting for 

his early morning school bus in Boston’s Dudley 

Square near the Orchard Gardens (formerly 

Orchard Park) housing development. Turner 

was not involved in gangs. Nevertheless, he was 

shot once in the back of the head by 18-year-old 

Xzeniyeju Chukwuezi, a member of the Dudley 

Street Posse looking to send a message to the 

rival Orchard Park Trailblazers. Tragedies like 

this, involving innocent bystanders, occur too 

frequently in cities across the U.S. All homicide 

victims and offenders, regardless of their status 

as criminals or not, are members of someone’s 

family. In disadvantaged neighborhoods with 

limited opportunities, many otherwise promising 

youth become involved in criminal activities. And 

whether they are lost to ghastly street violence 

or to the justice system, family and friends will 

grieve over their absence. 

As we noted earlier, commentators routinely 

refer to eruptions of violence in minority, 

disadvantaged neighborhoods as the black-onblack violence problem. We acknowledge that this 

designation is undeniably statistically accurate, 

given that most interpersonal violence involves 

victims and offenders of the same race. However, 

this higher-level statistical view can blind us to 

the details of the specific problems and dynamics 

that drive these statistics. 

Seldom are crimes involving whites described as 

white-on-white violence. Use of this vernacular 

to describe blacks’ victimization of other blacks 

has several important consequences. First, a 

singular focus on a rudimentary race-based dyad 

characterizing black offending and victimization 

has the potential to devalue black life while 

overshadowing the importance of harmful social 

conditions, such as concentrated neighborhood 

disadvantage and low collective efficacy 

(Sampson, 2012) that collectively produce crime. 

Second, casual use of the black-on-black violence 

classification may lead segments of the public to 

implicitly assume that blacks are more tolerant 

of crime and disorder and do not share the moral 

standards of mainstream society. 

Further, tensions between the police and 

minority communities are worsened when 

frustrated public officials hold press conferences 

following high-profile homicides, chastising 

residents of black neighborhoods for not 

coming forward with information, unwittingly 

calling into question the black community’s 

fundamental sense of decency or commitment 

to citizenship. Such proclamations about blacks’ 

unwavering reticence to assist the police are not 
 

 

The Police and Public Discourse on “Black-on-Black” Violence | 13 

only inflammatory, they are also exaggerated. 

In fact, blacks comprise a sizable proportion of 

prosecution witnesses and routinely petition 

criminal justice officials for increased attention 

to community violence, irrespective of family and 

friendship relationships with offenders (Donziger, 

1996; Tonry, 1995). 

Evolving Police Strategies to Engage 

Minority Communities 

The evolution of policing strategies is highly 

relevant to the effective treatment of these issues. 

Through the adoption of community and problemoriented policing, the way police departments 

deliver services in urban communities in general, 

and disadvantaged communities in particular, 

has changed dramatically over the last 30 years 

(Skogan and Frydl, 2004). By the beginning of the 

2000s, nearly all large urban police departments 

reported having a community policing program 

in place (Hickman and Reaves, 2001). Police are 

now more open to input from communities, deal 

with a wider range of complex social problems, 

and rely on partnerships more heavily. In general, 

broad-based community policing initiatives have 

been found to reduce fear of crime and improve 

the relationships between the police and the 

communities they serve (Skogan and Frydl, 

2004; Weisburd and Eck, 2004). Modern police 

departments are also more likely to systematically 

analyze the nature of crime problems, develop 

tailored responses to those problems, and engage 

a diverse set of strategies and partners in their 

implemented responses. Indeed, a growing body 

of scientific evidence confirms the crime control 

value of innovative police strategies such as 

problem-oriented policing, hot spots policing 

initiatives, and focused deterrence strategies 

(Braga and Weisburd, 2010, 2012; Weisburd et al., 

2010). 

Unfortunately, despite these important reforms, 

it remains surprisingly difficult to get residents 

of poor minority neighborhoods to engage 

constructively with police due to a history of 

strained relationships, continued skepticism of 

the sincerity of the police, and fear of reprisals 

from local criminals when cooperating with the 

police (Skogan and Frydl, 2004). Further, highly 

disadvantaged neighborhoods often lack the 

organizational infrastructure to collaborate 

with the police to manage crime and disorder. 

The available research suggests that community 

policing has been unevenly implemented 

within police departments, with responsibility 

for community-based initiatives sometimes 

relegated to specialized units comprising a small 

number of officers rather than spread across 

police departments (Skogan and Frydl, 2004; 

Skogan, 2006). Many police agencies still have 

far to go in developing real working relationships 

with the minority communities they serve. 

Inaccurate descriptions and poor analysis 

of crime problems can lead to inappropriate 

and ineffective police responses to recurring 

incidents. Goldstein (1990) urged police officers 

to ensure adequate depth when analyzing 

crime problems so that interventions could be 

appropriately focused, and a broader range of 

responses, beyond just increasing presence and 

making arrests, could be considered. Whereas 

police departments should be encouraged to 
 

14 | New Perspectives in Policing 

pursue strategies artfully tailored to specific 

risks (such as hot spots, repeat victims, highrate offenders, or gang hostilities (Braga, 2008)), 

how the police choose to address these recurring 

problems may either improve or further damage 

their relationships with minority residents. 

Police departments can adopt crime prevention 

strategies that seek to engage the community in 

changing the underlying conditions, situations 

and dynamics that cause violence to recur. 

Alternatively, police departments can simply 

“put cops on dots” through directed patrols or 

carry out enforcement blitzes aimed at potential 

offenders in high-violence areas. The overly 

simplistic “black-on-black violence” problem 

description seems likely to encourage officers to 

pursue harsher and less thoughtful approaches, 

concentrating intensive enforcement efforts 

or zero-tolerance policies on blacks in specific 

public spaces. 

Citizens’ appraisals of the police are influenced 

by the style of policing in their communities. 

Minorities living in distressed neighborhoods 

routinely report high levels of dissatisfaction 

with, and skepticism of, the police (Bass, 2001; 

Websdale, 2001). Police executives and city 

managers sometimes point to elevated crime 

rates to justify officers’ use of aggressive policing 

initiatives in poor black neighborhoods. The 

use of what residents may consider heavyhanded and oppressive crime-control tactics 

has resulted in some policing strategies being 

compared to “urban warfare” (Brunson and 

Gau, 2014). For instance, when specialized 

units and task forces constitute the foundation 

of neighborhood policing efforts, it potentially 

suggests to bystanders that officers are involved 

in a fierce battle with every neighborhood 

resident, regardless of their law-abiding status 

(Brunson and Weitzer, 2009). The urban warfare 

mindset begets particular kinds of tactical 

operations and has the potential to create a rift 

between neighborhood residents and the police, 

reducing citizens’ level of trust in officers and 

their willingness to participate in local crimereduction efforts (Brunson and Gau, 2014). The 

vast majority of urban residents, of course, are 

not anti-police and fully recognize that officers 

are critical to public safety (Carr, Napolitano 

and Keating, 2007). Yet, what many minorities 

consider over-policing, combined with occasional 

disrespectful treatment at the hands of officers, 

intensifies black citizens’ overall negative views 

of the police. 

Over-policing refers to officers intervening in 

matters that, to everyday citizens, seemingly 

do not warrant law enforcement action. Overpolicing typically occurs in locales that the 

police deem suspicious and/or dangerous due 

to obvious signs of disorder and perceptions 

that a considerable number of crime-prone 

individuals operate there (Klinger, 1997). 

Where the police consider certain places (and 

some of the people they encounter there) more 

menacing, they are likely to approach otherwise 

mundane situations with greater unease than 

they might in more tranquil settings (Klinger, 

1997). Further, in extremely disadvantaged 

neighborhoods, the police disproportionately 

use force when attempting to control and/or 
 

The Police and Public Discourse on “Black-on-Black” Violence | 15 

apprehend suspects (Kane, 2002; Smith, 1986; 

Terrill and Reisig, 2003). Officers’ disparate use 

of force in high-crime, minority neighborhoods 

may unknowingly diminish their moral authority 

in the eyes of community residents. Poor blacks 

disproportionately experience over-policing, 

and research demonstrates that people are less 

likely to cooperate with officers’ directives if they 

are not treated with respect (Tyler, 2006). Hence, 

aggressive policing strategies set the stage for 

increased acrimony between the police and 

disadvantaged blacks. 

Brunson and Miller (2006) found that young 

black men reported being routinely stopped by 

police and “...believed that despite their best 

efforts, they were not able to convincingly present 

themselves as law-abiding, even when they 

were, due to the confounding influences of race 

and place in the creation of symbolic assailants” 

(p. 636). An abundant body of research reveals 

that officers’ preconceived notions about race, 

place and crime can lead to patterns of behavior 

that leave urban black males believing they are 

perpetual targets for the police (for a summary, 

see Brunson and Gau, 2014). Fairness and 

impartiality are fundamental to police legitimacy 

(Tyler, 2006). Heavy-handed policing tactics 

underway in far too many black neighborhoods, 

coupled with some officers’ predetermined view 

regarding criminal involvement of young black 

men, seriously challenge efforts to improve police 

legitimacy in minority neighborhoods. 

Although recent scholarship has devoted 

considerable attention to the harmful 

consequences of over-policing, in economically 

disadvantaged, black neighborhoods residents’ 

concerns about local crime control efforts may 

equally center on under-policing (see Kennedy, 

1997; Smith, 1986). Specifically, urban blacks 

frequently express dissatisfaction regarding 

delayed response times, uncertain prioritization 

of calls for service, and the overall perception that 

police are not committed to solving crimes that 

have been reported (Brunson, 2007). Brunson and 

Weitzer (2009) examined disadvantaged urban 

males’ experiences with police across three 

neighborhoods that varied by racial composition: 

one was lower class and black, the second was 

lower class and predominantly white, and the 

third was lower class and racially mixed. They 

noted that “perceived police under-protection or 

poor service in poor, minority neighborhoods has 

been complained about for generations, and some 

of [their] respondents made the same complaint” 

(p. 876). Poor service and a lack of empathy can 

certainly occur at the same time police officers 

are saturating neighborhoods with resources to 

control outbreaks of violence. 

Citizens complain of under-policing when 

officers appear to dismiss certain calls 

for service or fail to make arrests in poor 

neighborhoods for offenses that individuals 

living there unequivocally believe would be 

severely punished in wealthier communities 

(Klinger, 1997). Residents of distressed, highcrime neighborhoods consistently report higher 

levels of dissatisfaction with the police and often 

blame the police for persistent crime and disorder 

problems (Weitzer and Tuch, 2006; Weitzer, 2010). 
 

 

16 | New Perspectives in Policing 

Residents of crime-plagued neighborhoods often 

call for greater police presence. In fact, Weitzer 

(2010: 121) “... found that 85 percent of Hispanics 

and 88 percent of African Americans favored 

more police surveillance of high crime areas.” 

Much like their white counterparts, minority 

citizens understand the need for improved 

police effectiveness. However, routine eruptions 

of neighborhood violence often cause poor 

minorities to doubt that they are receiving equal 

protection, reducing their overall confidence in 

and satisfaction with police. 

Conclusion 

Police executives, politicians and political 

commentators need to refrain from using 

overly simplistic descriptions — such as 

“black-on-black” violence — when describing 

outbreaks of serious criminal violence in black 

neighborhoods. Because the police represent the 

most visible face of government and have primary 

responsibility for maintaining public safety in all 

neighborhoods, police executives in particular 

should avoid framing urban violence problems in 

this way. Inappropriate use of such phrases can 

inadvertently promote inappropriate policing 

activities in black neighborhoods, which in turn 

erode the community’s trust and confidence in 

the police and inhibit cooperation with them. 

Disadvantaged neighborhoods that suffer from 

serious violence need and benefit from focused 

police attention. Black residents clearly want 

police in their neighborhoods. However, they 

want the police to know the community, treat 

residents with respect and dignity, prevent 

future outbreaks of violence rather than merely 

respond to incidents, and engage with them in 

appropriately focused rather than indiscriminate 

policing strategies. 

Careful analysis can lead to clarity in describing 

urban violence patterns and can thus improve 

police-minority community relations in at least 

two important ways. First, police executives can 

better frame and communicate to constituents 

the true nature of serious violent crime problems. 

Second, careful analysis can lead to the 

development and implementation of effective 

and appropriately focused crime reduction 

strategies. The type of analysis conducted in 

Boston, described above, is well within the reach 

of most urban police departments. 

Inappropriate framing of urban criminal violence 

problems, and the policies and practices that 

result, constitute substantial obstacles for police 

departments and for minority communities 

struggling to solve these critical issues. We believe 

the key to progress lies with careful analysis of 

the specific dynamics that generate patterns of 

violence and a broader appreciation of the value 

of carefully tailored police interventions. 

Endnotes 

1. http://dailycaller.com/2014/08/18/wsjs-jasonriley-unloads-on-obama-black-leadership-andthe-media-over-ferguson-video/#ixzz3BQiu2G00. 

2 . ht t ps://w w w.yout ub e.c om /w atc h? v = 

tApI4YqeKck. 

3. http://w w w.msnbc.com/msnbc/chicagoviolence-rahm-emanuel-calls-toug. 
 

 

 

The Police and Public Discourse on “Black-on-Black” Violence | 17 

4. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ 

michael-bloomberg-stop-and-frisk-keeps-newyork-safe/2013/08/18/8d4cd8c4-06cf-11e3-9259­

e2aafe5a5f84_story.html. 

5. http://w w w.nydailynews.com/new-york/ 

c om m i s s ione r-k e l l y- de f e nd s - s t op -a ndfrisk-ta rget ing-a frica n-a mericans-a r t icle1.1332840#ixzz3BPPs3Dzo. 

6. http://wuwm.com/post/chief-f lynn-sayspolicing-not-cause-high-rate-black-ma leincarceration. 

7. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ 

random (accessed May 8, 2014). 

8. According to the National Crime Victimization 

Survey, in 2012, blacks had a serious violent 

victimization (rape, robber y, aggravated 

assault) rate of 11.3 per 1,000 people ages 12 

and older, whereas whites had a serious violent 

victimization rate of 6.8 per 1,000 people ages 12 

and older (Langton, Planty and Truman, 2013). 

9. According to the Federal Bureau of 

Investigation, whites accounted for 58.7 percent 

of persons arrested for violent crimes, and blacks 

represented 38.5 percent of persons arrested for 

violent crimes in 2012. However, in 2012, blacks 

represented 49.4 percent of persons arrested 

for murder and non-negligent manslaughter 

while whites represented 48.2 percent of 

persons arrested for murder and non-negligent 

manslaughter (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 

2013). In 2012, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated 

that blacks represented only 13.1 percent of the 

U.S. population. http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/ 

states/00000.html (accessed Apr. 27, 2014). 

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Author Note 

Anthony Braga is the Don M. Gottfredson 

Professor of Evidence-Based Criminology, School 

of Criminal Justice, Rutgers University, and 

Senior Research Fellow, Program in Criminal 

Justice Policy and Management, John F. Kennedy 

School of Government, Harvard University. Rod 

K. Brunson is Vice Dean for Academic Affairs, 

Ph.D. Program Director, and Associate Professor, 

School of Criminal Justice, Rutgers University. 

Acknowledgments 

The authors would like to thank Charles Ramsey, 

Malcolm Sparrow, Darrel Stephens, Christine 

Cole, and members of the Harvard Executive 

Session on Policing and Public Safety for their 

helpful comments on earlier versions of this 

paper. They also would like to thank Anthony 

Bator for his excellent research assistance. 

Findings and conclusions in this publication are those of the authors and do not 

necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. 
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