‘Black dealers kill people and come from the projects; Whites dealers kill people and come from nice families’: contextualized racialized perceptions of related criminal behaviors within an attribution theory framework

Abstract

ABSTRACT Some believe certain racial groups are associated with specific behaviors, like homicide, drug dealing, and drug use. It is unclear if these perceptions are connected or if culpability as offender or victim for these behaviors is also racialized. The present study examines perceptions of people’s involvement in these related criminal behaviors. Using semi-structured interviews, data were gathered from men and women (n=32) living in 15 contiguous neighborhoods in a mid-sized city in the northeastern US. All study area neighborhoods experienced the effects of the opioid epidemic and repercussions of subsidized public housing policy changes, and some had high levels of violent and drug crimes. Interview data were analyzed using thematic content analysis applying iterative, open coding techniques to identify themes and recurrent concepts across participants. Findings show that respondents viewed Black persons engaged in homicides and drug dealers as offenders and white persons engaged in drug use as victims. Crimes attributed to Black people were also contextualized as a problem among gang members and people receiving subsidized public housing. Applying the racial threat hypothesis, study findings and implications for research on racialized perceptions of related criminal behaviors and culpability as offenders or victims are discussed within an attribution theory framework.