Past research has shown that racial inequality in urban areas—Black and White residential segregation and economic inequality—is associated with increased levels of homicide offending and that victimization among Blacks yet serves as a protection mechanism against such violence among Whites. However, few studies have considered alternative measures of violence, namely nonfatal violent victimization in the study of racial inequality in urban areas. This oversight is problematic, given that although some scholars suggest that homicide is a reliable indicator of all forms of violence in general, victimization reports often point to qualitative differences in lethal and nonlethal forms of violence. Consequently, this research examines the link between city-level White and Black residential segregation and economic inequality and individual risks for nonfatal violent victimization net of individual-level factors that have also been associated with such risks. The data are disaggregated by race, because White and Black residential segregation and economic inequality are believed to have disparate effects on non-Hispanic Whites’ and non-Hispanic Blacks’ risks. Overall, the findings indicate that both forms of racial inequality function to protect Whites from nonfatal violent victimization but concomitantly increase such risks among Blacks. The implications of these findings and areas of future research are also discussed.

This study explores the socio-spatial, economic, and policing inequities experienced by Latinxs in the Kansas City metropolitan using geographic, census, and police data as well as qualitative analysis of interviews and workshops. Data show there has been an expansion of Latinx enclaves over time in the metropolitan area and suggest that enclaves function as both a protective factor for Latinxs against socio-structural hardship and also render them highly visible as targets for disproportionate criminalization. To redress the latter, we offer planning recommendations for community development and policing that promote socio-spatial equity in law enforcement practices while adapting to demographic shifts.

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Much scholarship has given primacy to neighborhood context and its effect on youth violence within disadvantaged communities. The structural features of these environments, including various forms of disadvantage such as extreme poverty, unemployment and family disruption, have resulted in cultural adaptations that embrace the use of violence and the construction of violent identities as a means of survival and protection especially among youth. We adhere to and contribute to this perspective by recognizing the contributions of the symbolic interaction approach that underscores the process by which these identities are constructed. Recent developments in this area have emphasized the intersecting inequalities of race, gender and class that shape individuals’ understandings of and perceptions of violence. We draw on these works and analyze in-depth interviews with 72 urban, African American adolescents to examine the process by which they perceive and negotiate violence (and thus construct violent identities) and we further consider whether these constructions of violence are gender-specific.

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