Residential Segregation, Socioeconomic Deprivation, and Neighborhood Homicide Victimization

Abstract

This paper estimates the effects of racial residential segregation and various factors of socioeconomic deprivation on Black and White neighborhood homicide victimization rates, in an effort to explain the gap in homicide incidence between the two racial groups. The effects of these variables on neighborhood homicide rates are approximated using socioeconomic data collected from the US Census Bureau at the census tract level in Baltimore, Maryland, from 2010 to 2019, for the non-Hispanic White and Black populations. Racially disaggregated homicide data was obtained from the Baltimore Sun, via the Baltimore Police Department. Examination of 200 Baltimore census tracts provides evidence that various socioeconomic factors are predictors of both White and Black homicide victimization. Additionally, the results suggest that racial residential segregation greatly amplifies the effects of socioeconomic deprivation on Black homicide victimization. This indicates that the gap in racial homicide victimization rates is linked to discriminatory laws and tactics carried out in the United States, as well as the disparities in socioeconomic affluence between Black and White Americans.