Dimensions of racial segregation, hypersegregation, and Black homicide rates

Prior research assessing the association between racial residential segregation and Black urban homicides has not considered each of the five dimensions of segregation or the phenomenon of hypersegregation. In this study, indicators of each of the five dimensions of segregation, as well as measures of severe segregation and hypersegregation were considered, in order to assess Black homicide rates across 201 metropolitan statistical areas. Four of the five indicators of segregation were found to predict the dependent variable, although some evidence of an empirical overlap between dimensions was uncovered. Additionally, two indicators of severe segregation (exposure and centralization dimensions) and two measures of hypersegregation (i.e., a dummy variable and a count of the number of dimensions of severe segregation that exist in a given metro area) were found to be associated with Black homicides. The findings were interpreted as supporting Massey and Denton's ideas about the consequences of hypersegregation and Wilson's notion of concentrated disadvantage as explanations for Black urban homicide rates.