Patterns of Violent Victimization for Young Black Men in a Midwestern State

Background and Purpose: Black males are disproportionately impacted by violence, which is associated with increased risk for disability and death. Among all youth, young Black males are most likely to have multiple and repeated experiences of victimization. Prevalence rates are traditionally captured through large population surveys; thus, nuanced categories are absent. This limitation impacts the criminal justice system’s ability to respond to the violent victimization of young Black men as well as their resulting needs. This exploratory study is a step towards filling that gap. We seek to provide more detail about the types of violence experienced by young Black men. We will: 1) obtain information about the types of violence experienced by young Black men between the ages of 18 to 24 residing in urban, suburban, and rural locales and 2) provide an example of how to obtain information about these experiences from this hard-to-reach population.

Methods: As part of a larger study focused on creating an instrument to assess the violent victimization experiences of young Black men ages 18 to 24, we conducted structured screening interviews to determine eligibility for participation in focus groups. Participants were recruited via in-person, flyers posted in the community, and word-of-mouth. All recruitment was conducted by Black males between the ages of 25 to 40, as were all screening interviews, which were conducted in-person and by phone. They answered yes or no to questions regarding whether they had experienced: physical assault, school violence, gang violence, police brutality, hate crimes, jail/prison violence, sexual assault, and military violence. Participants were Black males ages 18 to 24 (N=108) residing in urban, suburban and rural areas in a Midwestern state. We conducted descriptive analyses and an exploratory factor analysis to ascertain the existence of any underlying relationships between our categories of violence.

Results: The mean age of participants was 21.2 years (SD = 2.2, median = 21.0 years). Physical assault (94%) and school violence (94%) were experienced by almost all participants. Other forms of violence experienced included gang violence (57%), police brutality (33%), hate crimes dues to race (30%) or sexual orientation (14%), jail/prison violence (13%), sexual assault (9%), and military violence (1%). An exploratory factor analysis identified two underlying dimensions: physical violence (including gang violence, police violence, sexual assault and jail violence), and hate crimes (due to race or sexual orientation). The two dimensions were only weakly correlated with one another (Phi = 0.09, ns), with only 23% of the sample reporting having experienced both types of victimization.

Conclusions and Implications: Results indicate victimization experiences are extensive and varied. These findings can: 1) increase our understanding of the types of violence experienced by young Black men and 2) encourage an expansion of ideas during the creation, implementation, and funding of effective interventions. Further research should include a more geographically diverse sample, explore differences in experience by age and locale, explore the influence of additional demographic factors on types of violence experienced, and further explore the existence and/or strength of underlying relationships between different categories of violence.