Participants in violent encounters often come from the same age, gender, class, and race groupings. To explore the relationship between racial stratification and violent delinquency, this paper opens with a critical examination of previous research and then presents a conceptual frame that is more specific with regard to these factors. Then, data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) are analyzed to highlight the interactional complexity of the relationship between stratification and violence. Add Health data are presented for 134 schools and 9,731 students. The results from robust regression analysis show violence to be the product of a complex process by which social-environment factors combine to influence individual behavior in race- and gender-specific ways. The relationship between economically depressed areas and violent behavior is found to be mediated through available family, social, and economic resources. These findings raise questions about the theoretical underpinnings of research in this area, and encourage thinking about the linkages between race and violence. (Contains 6 tables and 96 references.) (SLD)