Law-Abiding Immigrants: The Incarceration Gap between Immigrants and the US-Born, 1870–2020

Ran Abramitzky, Leah Boustan, Elisa Jácome, Santiago Perez and Juan David Torres

American Economic Review: Insights, 2024, vol. 6, issue 4, 453-71

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 percent less likely to be incarcerated (30 percent relative to US-born Whites). This relative decline occurred among immigrants from all regions and cannot be explained by changes in 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.

JEL-codes: J15 K37 K42 N31 N32 N41 N42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Working Paper: Law-Abiding Immigrants: The Incarceration Gap Between Immigrants and the US-born, 1870–2020 (2023)
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DOI: 10.1257/aeri.20230459

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