ABSTRACT
As the twentieth century draws to a close, the prescience of Thomas Jefferson’s sense of foreboding about American race relations has been confirmed. Contacts between white policemen and black males remain, as they have historically, flashpoints in American race relations. The racial divide is undeniable as are its potentially incendiary political implications: Any proposed policy to reduce violent crime must take into account that it will affect blacks disproportionately; it must confront directly what one observer has called “the hidden burden of race”. Blacks account for more than 45 percent of all spousal homicides; the rates for such crimes are nearly nine times higher than white rates. Among female crime victims, lower-income, young, black women, who have never married, are the most likely to be harmed or killed by male intimates, acquaintances, and strangers alike. Despite recent declines in violent crime, the United States continues to have far higher rate of violent crime than any comparable European or Asian country.
