Revisiting Racial/Ethnic Composition Effects in a Multicultural Society

Abstract

In this article, the relationship between racial/ethnic composition and violence is revisited. This includes efforts to conduct a deeper exploration of the ethnic composition effects of discrete Latino-origin populations. This is an important extension for a number of reasons. First, recent research has demonstrated the dangers of pan-ethnic classifications in the study of race, ethnicity, and crime. Different histories of migration, settlement, opportunity, and intergenerational advancement have produced different levels of successful integration for some groups relative to others, with different implications for crime. One of the distinguishing features of the contemporary Latino population is a disproportionately young average age. Specifically, Latinos in the United States include a higher percentage of adolescent and young adults than the national average—a period of the life course where criminal behavior tends to peak. Thus, I also examine how racial and ethnic composition and change in these areas is associated with variation in violence perpetrated by youth and emerging adults specifically.