Spatial Disadvantage and Racial Disparities in Gun Homicides

A spatially disadvantaged census tract is one that is surrounded by disadvantaged tracts. More spatially disadvantaged neighborhoods may experience more violence, independent of their own level of disadvantage, and majority Black middle-class neighborhoods are more likely to be spatially disadvantaged than majority white neighborhoods. The purpose of this paper is to study how much of the racial difference in gun homicide rates between majority Black and majority white middle-class neighborhoods can be explained by differences in spatial disadvantage. To study this, comparable majority Black and majority white tracts were matched to understand how gun homicide rates differ in neighborhoods with similar levels of disadvantage. Further matching on spatial disadvantage reduced the disparity in gun homicides between majority Black and majority white middle-class neighborhoods, suggesting that spatial disadvantage accounts for some but not all of the disparity.