Traditional macro-level models of crime assume that the cultural and structural features of communities exert criminogenic pressures evenly across all segments of the population. However, there have been disparities in this assumption which have been attributed to the fact that the norms and values central to cultural theories of violence are not fully internalized by youth and therefore, may not govern their interactions as they do for adults. This analysis attempts to challenge important assumptions implicit in much of the existing macro-level research on serious crime. This is accomplished in three ways: (1) expanding the range of vision from solely on the character of community deficits to include the protections afforded by an abundance of cultural resources, like civic engagement; (2) differentiating between two main types of civic participation, particularly religious and secular forms of civic involvement; and (3) developing a conceptual rationale for expecting that these two forms of civic participation will not have equivalent relationships with juvenile and adult homicide rates. An integrated community resource perspective was developed and the approach was contrasted with community deficit perspectives. The analysis of county-level adult and juvenile homicide offending patterns suggest that regional subcultures as well as religious and secular forms of civic participation play important, age graded roles in reducing interpersonal violence. In addition, the analysis provides support to scholars who have claimed that existing macro-level theories of homicide are in need of considerable recasting. References