Intraracial Crime

Patterns of Intraracial Crime

Several studies have been conducted on the intraracial crime patterns among Blacks and Whites, and all have concluded that violent crime is largely intraracial, especially homicide. A classic 1958 study by Marvin Wolfgang found that, in Philadelphia, 94% of the offender-victim relationships examined involved offenders and victims of the same race. Also, a 1965 study of Houston found a similar intraracial homicide rate, approximately 86%, among Mexican Americans. Further, a study of Chicago between the years 1965 and 1973 found that intraracial homicide made up between 86% and 90% of all homicide cases. More recent studies indicate a continued trend. According to a U.S. Department of Justice report, in 2005, about 93% of Black homicide victims and 85% of White homicide victims in single victim/ single offender homicides were killed by someone of their same race. National-level data regarding intraracial crime among other races are scant because many crime statistics categorize all other races as “other.” However, Department of Justice data collected between 1993 and 1998 indicated that 58% [Page 398]of those of “other races” were murdered by an “other race” person. Studies of victim-offender relationships for both simple and aggravated assault show that the preponderance of assault offenses is, like homicide, intraracial. National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) data from 2005 indicate that 67% of total assaults on White victims were at the hands of White offenders. Likewise, 69% of total assaults on Black victims were at the hands of Black offenders. A 2006 study also suggested that assault is more intraracial than interracial. Using National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data, 27 of the largest U.S. cities that recorded NIBRS data between 2002 and 2004 were studied. Though NIBRS is not used nationwide yet, of the cities examined, it was found that White-to-White assault accounted for 47% of the cases, Black-to-Black assault accounted for 38%, Asian-to-Asian accounted for 0.25%, and Native American-to-Native American accounted for 0.14%. Due to the small representation of data, these numbers may not fully reflect the severity of assault; however, the pattern persists that much assault is intraracial.

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