Black Neighbors, Higher Crime? The Role of Racial Stereotypes in Evaluations of Neighborhood Crime

This article investigates the relationship between neighborhood ra-cial composition and perceptions residents have of their neighbor-hood’s level of crime. The study uses questions about perceptions of neighborhood crime from surveys in Chicago, Seattle, and Bal-timore, matched with census data and police department crime sta-tistics. The percentage young black men in a neighborhood is pos-itively associated with perceptions of the neighborhood crime level, even after controlling for two measures of crime rates and other neighborhood characteristics. This supports the view that stereo-types are influencing perceptions of neighborhood crime levels. Var-iation in effects by race of the perceiver and implications for racial segregation are discussed.