Criminologists have produced mounting evidence that economic deprivation, social disorganization, and racial inequality are associated with homicide rates. Our research agenda incorporates both criminological and structural inequality theories into the study of the influence of structural covariates on race-specific homicide rates. We examine the effects of economic deprivation, labor market competition, racial segregation, and racial inequality on interracial and intraracial homicide rates for a sample of U.S. cities in 1980. The results of principal components and multiple regression analyses suggest that economic deprivation affects the intraracial homicide rates for Whites and Blacks, as well as the rates of White interracial homicide offending. Racial segregation and racial inequality were found to contribute significantly to the Black interracial homicide rate. In addition, we find that labor market competition affects the rates of White and Black interracial homicide. The contribution of structural theories for studies of homicide and the implications of these findings are discussed.
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