EXTREMELY DISADVANTAGED NEIGHBORHOODS AND URBAN-CRIME

Drawing on Wilson (1987), this article assesses two hypotheses concern ing the relationship between neighborhood disadvantage and crime: (1) extremely disadvantaged neighborhoods have. unusually high rates of mi me; and (2) local structural disadvantage is equally important in infl uencing mime in black and white neighborhoods. Hence, racial differenc es in structural disadvantage account for black-white differences in c rime across communities. To test these hypotheses, we examine 1990 cen sus and crime data for local areas in the city of Columbus, Ohio. The analysis lends substantial support for both arguments, particularly fo r the influence of structural disadvantage on violent crime.