• Take a side either pro or con that you believe is stronger.
• Your assignment should be 750-1000 words and formatted using APA format.
• At least two sources should be used to support your position (In addition to those provided)
• Do some research to add support to position that adds to the sources and information from the text.
• Be sure to cite your sources correctly.
Introduction
The relationship between immigration and crime has been debated for more than 100 years. With the large influx of mostly European immigrants in the late 1800s and early 1900s, U.S. natives feared that newcomers were criminal and would destroy the social fabric of American society. After decades of assimilation and acculturation into American society, the image of the criminal immigrant mainly subsided until the next large influx of immigrants entered the United States beginning in the 1960s. This wave of immigration coincided with increases in the crime rate in general, including an increase in the U.S. homicide rate between 1960 and 1990.80 Once again, immigrants were viewed as criminals.
While some politicians and interest groups have argued that the influx of immigrants has had negative consequences for American society, others have described data that run counter to this position. On the one hand, nearly a century of research confirms that foreign-born immigrants residing in the United States are less criminal than their native-born peers.81 On the other hand, much research shows that children of immigrants living in the United States (i.e., second- and third-generation immigrants) are at greater risk of engaging in criminal behavior than first-generation immigrant children.82
PRO: Immigration Increases Crime
One argument for how immigration may increase crime centers on population increase. Between 1965 and 2015, new immigrants (first-generation immigrants), their children (second generation), and grandchildren (third generation) accounted for 55% of U.S. population growth.83 In 2015, the foreign-born population (first-generation immigrants) made up 13.9% of the country’s population.84 It is projected that over the next 50 years, the foreign-born population will account for 88% of the country’s population increase.85 The increase in this population may be of concern given the demographic similarities between criminal offenders and recent immigrants. Like criminal offenders, recent immigrants tend to be young, male, poorly educated, and from a racial or ethnic minority group.86 Perhaps by increasing the numbers of the most crime-prone demographic, immigrants could contribute to increases in the crime rate.
Immigrant generational status has also been shown to influence crime rates. Historically—and still today—studies find that first-generation immigrants are less criminal than their U.S.-born counterparts. However, crime involvement appears to increase through successive generations. Research shows that second- and third-generation youth (U.S.-born individuals) exhibit a number of negative social and behavioral outcomes compared with their foreign-born parents. Second- and third-generation youth have, on average, lower self-control, more delinquent peers, and less parental supervision; spend more time in unstructured activities with peers; and report more parent–child conflict at home compared with first-generation youth.87 These findings suggest that length of time in the United States increases crime among immigrant groups.88 Similarly, studies that differentiate between first-generation immigrants who arrived in the United States at a young age (before 12 or 13) and those who arrived at a later age show that those who came at a young age tend to report greater crime involvement than those who came at a later age.89 This finding suggests that age of arrival can also influence criminal outcomes.
Another argument for how immigration increases crime suggests that immigration may influence the criminal involvement of members of the native U.S. population. In particular, one study found a strong relationship between immigration, Black employment rates and wages, and Black incarceration rates.90 This analysis suggests that the increase in immigrant workers (in certain sectors) lowered the wages and employment rate of Black people workers in those sectors, which indirectly increased the incarceration rate for Black people.
CON: Immigration Does Not Increase Crime
Increases in both the immigrant population and the U.S. crime rate occurred simultaneously during the 1960s through the 1990s. Given this finding, it is not surprising that much of the public believed immigrants were responsible for the increase in crime. However, crime dramatically decreased in the 1990s while the immigrant population continued to grow.91 This prompted a number of researchers to examine if increases in immigration increased crime. The same pattern emerged from those studies: Immigration did not contribute to the crime increase and, in some areas, immigration may have actually lowered or decreased the crime rate.92
Official records from the 1980s suggest that many cities with large immigrant populations also experienced high crime rates. If the immigrants were the cause of increased crime rates, then it would be expected that any change in the immigrant population would change the crime rate in that city. However, numerous studies reported no relationship between changes in the immigrant population and changes in the overall crime rates.93 Analyses looking at changes in the 1990s also indicated decreases in the crime rate, especially the violent crime rate, as the immigrant population increased.94 The same pattern was seen in the early 2000s. Violent victimization rates hit a record low in 2002 despite the growing immigrant population. Additionally, cities with the largest concentration of immigrants experienced the greatest drops in the violent crime rate.95
In an argument made in the preceding section, it was suggested that immigrants may influence the crime rate of native populations. In some areas, however, living in a neighborhood with a large concentration of immigrants has been shown to result in lower violence, even among the native-born population of Black people and Whites.96
Even though studies discussed in the previous section suggest that second- and third-generation youth are more crime prone, those same studies also find that overall, these youth tend to be less involved or equally involved in crime compared with their native-born counterparts.97
Summary
There are three main patterns that have emerged in immigration and crime research. First, foreign-born individuals report less involvement in crime compared with their native-born counterparts. Second, the children of immigrants, namely the second and third generations, show greater involvement in crime than their foreign-born counterparts (i.e., first generation). Third, neighborhoods with large and/or growing immigrant populations tend to witness declines in the overall crime rates, especially for violent crimes.
Some scholars suggest that immigrant communities can protect residents and youth from adopting a deviant lifestyle through a common ethnic subculture that helps create social ties among residents.98 Thus, the concentration of immigrants may act as a protective factor against crime, particularly violence.99
The issue of why second- and third-generation immigrants have higher crime rates than the first generation remains unsolved. Some suggest that immigrants are more likely to live in two-parent households, which acts as a protective factor, especially for newly arrived immigrants.100 Others suggest that living in a neighborhood with a large concentration of immigrants provides new immigrants with an extended social network that provides job opportunities and social support.101 Yet still the possibility exists that there is something unique about U.S. culture that increases the propensity for crime among second- and third-generation immigrants. Future research is needed to address these remaining questions.
Crime and Criminal Justice Concepts and Controversies, Malicoat (Sage Publications, 2nd ed.)
