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Title: Crime and Immigration: Further Evidence on the Connection
Citation Type: Working Paper
Publication Year: 2005
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Abstract: Despite the widespread perception of a link between immigration and crime, evidence availableten years ago suggested that cities that had experienced higher immigration over the 1980s hadno higher crime rates than otherwise similar cities, and immigrant involvement in crime, ascaptured by their incarceration, was less than that of the native born, and much less than that ofnatives with similar characteristics. More recently arrived immigrants had the lowestcomparative incarceration rates, despite relatively poor labor market outcomes. Nonetheless,incarceration rates, like other immigrant outcomes, appeared to converge toward that of thenative born with time in the country. Since that research was conducted, crime rates have fallenconsiderably, immigration has increased, and new legislation affecting who is eligible toimmigrate and the treatment of immigrants once they have arrived has been enacted. These newpolicies have the potential to affect who comes to the country and their activities once inside theU.S.Analysis of newly available data supports the earlier conclusions that immigrants are less likelythan natives to commit crimes. However, that gap is even larger in 2000, with foreign bornhaving institutionalization rates 20% as large as the native born. These results stand in somecontrast to conclusions about immigrant outcomes in labor markets, health status, and otherarenas. We find little evidence that these findings are driven by the increased deportation ofcriminal aliens, but it may be that greater sanctions for non-citizens involved in crime have had adeterrent effect. However, we do not find substantial increases in the rate at which immigrantsbecome citizens, as might be expected.
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Authors: Piehl, Anne M.; Butcher, Kristin F.
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Institution: Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
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Publisher Location: Chicago, IL
Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Crime and Deviance, Migration and Immigration
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