Migration Letters
Volume 15, Issue 2, 2018, Pages 197-214

Immigration and violent crime in California, 1980-2012: Contextualization by temporal period and race/ethnicity (Article)

Feldmeyer B. , Steffensmeier D. , Harris C.T. , Tasharrofi S.
  • a School of Criminal Justice, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, United States
  • b Department of Sociology and Crime, Law, and Justice, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States
  • c Department of Sociology and Criminology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, United States
  • d School of Criminal Justice, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, United States

Abstract

In light of concerns surrounding the alleged link between immigration and crime, our goal is to investigate trends in violent crime rates by race/ethnicity within and between counties with differing degrees of immigration. Using unique data from California for the 1980 to 2012 period, we find (1) that after an initial decade of stability, violence rates fell beginning in the 1990s during a period of rapid immigration growth. Additionally, (2) this pattern is observed for all offenses, race/ethnic groups (including Hispanics), and was near uniform in counties with both high and low levels of immigrant concentration and growth. Despite fears of immigration fueled crime waves, our findings suggest that high immigration has not worsened the problem of violent crime and that places with both low and high immigrant concentrations and growth experienced parallel declines in crime from 1990 to 2012. Copyright @ 2018 MIGRATION LETTERS.

Author Keywords

Immigration policy stereotypes Media Crime Latino/as violence

Index Keywords

[No Keywords available]
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85052020142&partnerID=40&md5=064d6c7142329e67d4516a0f26c90e80
ISSN: 17418984
Original Language: English