Abstract
Rates of homicide among blacks in the United States have been consistently higher than those of white Americans and of other American nonwhites. Subculture of violence theory has been the most widely accepted explanation for these differences. In this article, I argue that subculture theory ignores or underemphasizes a variety of historical-structural, situational, and economic factors that might explain high rates of black homicide. Seldom examined is the behavior of the law. Three theoretical propositions are offered as guides for future research. These propositions suggest that (1) the historical devaluing of black life, (2) official responses of the criminal justice system to prehomicide behavior among blacks, and (3) the direct effects of economic deprivation are important causal factors.
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