Full Citation

Title: Law-Abiding Immigrants: The Incarceration Gap Between Immigrants and the US-born, 1870-2020

Citation Type: Working Paper

Publication Year: 2023

ISBN:

ISSN:

DOI: 10.3386/W31440

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: We provide the first nationally representative long-run series (1870–2020) of incarceration rates for immigrants and the US-born. As a group, immigrants have had lower incarceration rates than the US-born for 150 years. Moreover, relative to the US-born, immigrants’ incarceration rates have declined since 1960: immigrants today are 60% less likely to be incarcerated (30% relative to US-born whites). This relative decline occurred among immigrants from all regions and cannot be explained by changes in immigrants’ observable characteristics or immigration policy. Instead, the decline is part of a broader divergence of outcomes between less-educated immigrants and their US-born counterparts.

Url: https://www.nber.org/papers/w31440

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Abramitzky, Ran; Platt Boustan, Leah; Jácome, Elisa; Pérez, Santiago; David Torres, Juan

Series Title: NBER Working Paper Series

Publication Number: 31440

Institution: National Bureau of Economic Research

Pages: 1-27

Publisher Location: Cambridge, MA

Data Collections: IPUMS USA, IPUMS USA - Ancestry Full Count Data

Topics: Crime and Deviance, Migration and Immigration

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