Assessing the race-violence relationship at the macro level: The assumption of racial invariance and the problem of restricted distributions

Macrolevel research on the race-violence relationship has focused on the as sumption of racial invariance in the effects of structural disadvantage mea sures on violence. Yet in most urban areas black; and white disadvantage di stributions only partially overlap, which precludes a critical empirical te st of the assumption. I refer to this as the problem of "restricted distrib utions." Using block group data fbr Atlanta, results show that the effect o f a disadvantage index on violence is similar in black and white neighborho ods within the low range of the disadvantage distribution, but diminishes s ignificantly at the higher levels prevalent in black areas. I discuss the i mplications of the findings and suggest avenues for future research.