Displaced, Dispossessed, or Lawless?: Examining the Link Between Ethnicity, Immigration, and Violence

• NCJ Number: 220091
• Journal: Aggression and Violent Behavior Volume: 12 Issue: 5 Dated: September-October 2007 Pages: 564-581
• Author(s): Jacob I. Stowell; Ramiro Martinez Jr.
• Date Published: September 2007
• Length: 18 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study focuses on the degree to which the relationship between immigration and crime varies across foreign-born ethnic populations.

Abstract

The results presented are consistent with prior research on immigration. With the inclusion of ethnic-specific measures of immigration, the findings yielded a combination of negative and unfounded effects of the presence of foreign-born ethnic groups on violent crime. Despite study limitations, the findings underscore the fact that the association between immigration and crime is influenced by the larger social context into which immigrants settle. Therefore, it is important to examine the broader social contexts, as it is possible that structural factors may help to explain variations in the relationship between immigration and violent crime both within and between geographical areas. The notion that immigration and crime are inextricably linked is not a new one. To explain this relationship, criminologists often relied on social disorganization theory. Building on these prior analyses, the present study examined the relationship between immigration and crime in an attempt to cast new light on competing hypotheses. In particular, the research addresses two aspects of this relationship that have not yet been fully explored. First, the foreign-born populations in neighborhoods are classified based on their ethnic origins in order to test whether the impacts on crime vary across groups. Second, this research advances current knowledge on the link between immigration and crime by using more comprehensive crime indicators, including measures of non-lethal violence, which allows for a test of the degree to which the impact of immigration on violence varies across crime types. Patterns of violent crime in two cities were analyzed: Houston, TX and Miami, FL. Each of these cities is well-suited for inclusion in this research, in part, because the foreign-born comprise substantial portions of their total populations. Tables, appendix A and B, and references