Immigration and Violent Crime in California, 1980-2012: Contextualization by Temporal Period and Race/Ethnicity

Ben Feldmeyer, Darrell Steffensmeier, Casey T. Harris and Shahin Tasharrofi
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Ben Feldmeyer: University of Cincinnati, School of Criminal Justice, United States
Darrell Steffensmeier: Department of Sociology and Crime, Law, and Justice, The Pennsylvania State University, United States
Casey T. Harris: Department of Sociology and Criminology, University of Arkansas, United States
Shahin Tasharrofi: School of Criminal Justice, University of Cincinnati, United States

Migration Letters, 2018, vol. 15, issue 2, 197-214

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.

Keywords: immigration policy; Latino/as; crime; violence; media; stereotypes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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