How the West Was One: Explaining the Similarities in Race-Specific Homicide Rates in the West and South

This research investigates the impact of structural conditions on- rates of black and white homicide for different regions of the U.S. Particular attention is given to the claim that significant changes have occurred in regional patterns of homicide, shifting attention awayffrom the South and toward the western region. Based on race-specific homicide rates for U.S. cities in 1990, our research provides statistical evidence of similarities in mean race-specific homicide ratesfor the southern and western regions. hile thisfinding suggests greater comparability, further exploration reveals that the similarities in regional homicide rates cannot be attributed to like circumstances or conditions once methodological pursuits of invariant structural covariates in research prevail. Given the presence of unique structural disadvantages in each of these regions, we offer explanationsfor the differences in structural and culturalforces that contribute to the race-specific homicide rates.

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