The author assesses explanations for variable rates of black criminal victimization among American cities, reviews the literature on differential treatment of offenders based on their victim's race and ethnic group identity, and reviews the literature on the impact that the victim's race or ethnicity has on the criminal justice system response to the case. Patterns of criminal victimization are studied in the context of three other forms of apparent victimization, i.e., the effects of oppression, the mistreatment of crime victims by criminal justice system agents, and additional forms of mistreatment suffered by minority victims of crime. 6 tables and 113 references