Does Immigration Increase Homicide? Negative Evidence From Three Border Cities

Matthew T. Lee, Ram iro Martinez, Richard Rosenfeld

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Understanding the complex relationship between immigration and crime was once a core concern of American sociology. Yet the extensive post-1965 wave of immigration to the United States has done little to rekindle scholarly interest in this topic, even as politicians and other public figures advocate public policies to restrict immigration as a means of preventing crime. Although both popular accounts and sociological theory predict that immigration should increase crime in areas where immigrants settle, this study of Miami, El Paso, and San Diego neighborhoods shows that, controlling for other influences, immigration generally does not increase levels of homicide among Latinos and African Americans. Our results not only challenge stereotypes of the “criminal immigrant” but also the core criminological notion that immigration, as a social process, disorganizes communities and increases crime.
Original languageAmerican English
JournalSociological Quarterly
Volume42
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 1 2001

Disciplines

  • Public Policy
  • Growth and Development
  • Social and Behavioral Sciences
  • Sociology

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