Race, Place, and Risk Revisited

Abstract

In 1990, our study of Black homicide in six cities over 25 years, Race, Place and Risk: Black Homicide in Urban America, was published. In the epilogue, the authors identified the emergence of a new phase of violent behavior occurring in low-income Black communities but were not able to identify its etiology. This article extends into the early to mid-1990s our earlier work on Black homicide in urban America. The authors focus on the 8-year interval, 1985 to 1993, after the publication of Race, Place and Risk. The factor that distinguishes homicides of the current period from those of our earlier period is that the age of both victimization and offending has moved downward. In an effort to identify the reasons for this downward shift, the authors examine victimization in 4 previous high-risk urban places (Atlanta, GA; Detroit, MI; St. Louis, MO; and Los Angeles, CA), and 4 newly emerged, high-risk centers (Washington, DC; New Orleans, LA; Milwaukee, WI; and Charlotte, NC). The authors suggest that the development of an oppositional culture among young Black males is an important element in accounting for the most recent upsurge in lethal victimizations in the nation's larger urban centers.