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Race, Place, and Crime: How Violent Crime Events Affect Employment Discrimination

Employer exposure to recent violent crime negatively impacts Black job applicants, regardless of whether they possess a criminal record. Conducted in Oakland, CA, this study measured callback rates for Black, white and Hispanic fictional job applicants, with and without criminal records. This information was then correlated with archival data on crime events, paying attention to both the location and recency of the event in relation to the employer. The author found that Black job applicants were significantly less likely to be called back compared to their white and Hispanic counterparts, indicating both social context and stereotyping has an impact on hiring processes.


Mobasseri, S. (2019). Race, Place, and Crime: How Violent Crime Events Affect Employment Discrimination. American Journal of Sociology, 125(1), 63–104. https://doi.org/10.1086/703883

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