Citation

Rose HM. Public Health Rep. (1974) 1987; 102(6): 613-615.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1987, Association of Schools of Public Health)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Black americans continue to be the highest at-risk population for homicide, a position that the group has maintained since statistics based on race of victims were first compiled in 1914. The explanations attributed to this group-specific form of lethal injury are highly varied, encompassing individual and group behavioral orientations, with emphasis varying from one period to another.

Current high-risk levels, however, are frequently attributed to the behavioral styles of young adult males, poverty, and membership in the subculture of violence. Yet, there are researchers who find problems with some or all of these explanations. But explanations are not temporally stable, and the underlying causal factors during one period later give way to others. Correspondingly, intervention efforts should reflect an awareness of the changing nature of interpersonal relationships that lead to homicide.

One objective of this paper is to determine the direction in which the aggregate risk of homicide for blacks has been moving during the 1980s. Because blacks are highly concentrated in the nation's largest cities, where risk is known to be appreciably higher, it is particularly germane to attempt to detect if place of residence is tied to trends in risk behavior. To do this, homicide trends in a small sample of cities (which were scrutinized at the neighborhood level during the late 1970s) will be reviewed.