The Influence of Immigration on Crime Rate in the United States, Term Paper Example

Introduction

The subject on the influence of immigration on crime rate has led to unsettled debates. Most anti-immigration groups, for example, politicians and the media have stopped at nothing to prove the positive relationship between immigration and crime. This is because most immigrants tend to be poor and some of them lack qualifications for jobs. Hence the assumption that with no income generation, crime is the savior. However, many people have refuted these assertions because they are based on opinion instead of documented facts. The criminal justice system has tried to evaluate whether increased crime can be associated with the legal or illegal immigrants (Edmonston and James 368).

An examination of the population of immigrants in the United States since 1980s depicts an increase in immigrant populations in the country. Data from other sources indicates that the population of immigrants has appreciated from 6% since the 1980s to more than 12% in 2010. A comparison of these data sets with the crime rates in the country during the same period shows that, there has been a decline in the rates of crime within the same period (Gibney and Randall 118). While data collected within this time series indicates that there is no relationship between the rate of immigration and crime, there seems to be a protective effect concerning crime evident from the opinions of the media, the public and politicians. This has led to the opposite conclusion among many United States natives who have been made to believe that immigration has led to increased criminal activity in the country (Loucky, Jeanne and Lawrence 61). Literature on the topic provides little guidance on the real impact of immigration on the rates of crime. Most of the conclusions associating immigration to crime can be associated with the demographic characteristics possessed by immigrants, which tend to be different from the characteristics portrayed by the general population in the United States. An example can be illustrated from the assumptions that immigrants normally have lower earnings compared to U.S citizens something that causes them to engage in criminal activity. The other point that has been raised to support the issue concerns the little attachment that immigrants normally have on the community making them have risk profiles as compared to the natives. (Kingsbury 1).

In a bid to address this controversial subject, this paper will attempt to contribute to growing empirical literature concerning the relationship between immigration and crime. Despite the relationship between immigration and crime resulting to increased political debates, empirical and economic literature has not provided sufficient data in proving the validity of this topic. This paper is based on the hypothesis that there is no relationship between immigration and crime rate in the United States. Therefore, the study tries to prove that there exists a negative correlation between immigration and the rates of crime in the United States.

Data methods

In evaluating the hypothesis, the study will use past data for comparison. For example, data showing the relationship between immigration and crime collected between 1970 and 2007   will be compared. This will provide enough information to show whether immigration contributes to a proportionate share of crime in the United States.According to studies, level of crime has dropped from the 1990s, however, there has been a significant rise in the population of immigrants within this time span. Examples can be illustrated from the IPC (Immigration Policy Center) and the PPIC (Public Policy Institute of California) studies, which indicate minimal crime rates among immigrants. Therefore immigration results to crime rate dropdown. A reduction in the ratio of native residents to American residents leads to crime rate depreciation. Figure 1 critically depicts that crime rate reduced with an increase in immigrant population. (Camarota and Jessica 1).

Data collected by the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) working alongside other jurisdictions have attempted to identify the number of foreign citizens, illegal citizens and deportable citizens in the United States prison and jails. An evaluation of this data depicts a contradiction with previous research that have normally depicted an increase in the rates of incarceration and crime among immigrants. The 287(g) program, which is also ICE’s partnership initiative that takes part in immigration enforcements, has provided reliable information regarding the relationships of some of the jurisdictions, and the immigration status or citizenship of the people arrested. The study uses data collected from various jurisdictions and concerns people who have been charged with immigration violations according to the 287(g) authority. The statistics have then been placed on a demographic context according to information acquired from the jurisdictions (Camarota and Jessica 1).

Figure 2 in the appendix provides the results, which include 10 jurisdictions that give information that can be used for comparison with the general population though some localities are not represented. Information has been presented in terms of data on illegal aliens and all foreign-born. Column one of the table presents a share of jailed inmates who may be the foreign-born or illegal aliens. Column two presents the county’s population of immigrants based on data collected from the census bureau. Colum three presents a share of the population comprising illegal immigrants. The fourth column presents a share of adults in the counties comprising immigrants, they form the majority. To evaluate whether immigrants have an impact on the levels of crime, the study conducts a comparison of immigrants in contact with criminal justice systems and evaluates their share with the local population to show their degree of crime

Pew Hispanic Center also has got data essential for in this research. And it displays a decline in crime rates in the country despite the escalation of legal and illegal immigrants. Figure 3 is a graph comparing the homicide trends and the immigration flows in the country. The graph compares data collected from 1990 to the year 2004 (Sailer, 2006).

The set of data from Arizona Arrestee Reporting Information Network is also vital in this research. Figure 4, illustrates the difference in criminal involvement based on the immigration status. The various categories of crime being evaluated in this table include property crimes, drug dales, drug use and violent crimes (Nuno, 2011).

Results

The results in figure 1 depicts a drop in crime rate despite the growing immigrant population in the country. Although this data cannot lead to the conclusion that immigration is not associated with increasing crime rates, the aggregate level data presented shows that, in the year 1994, there was a rise in the overall immigrant population, in the country. In this same year, there was a drop in the overall crime rate nationally. There was therefore positive influence of immigration increase to the country.

Figure 2 presents data collected from places in the United States where illegal immigration has been considered a major concern. For instance, in Maricopa County where only one-fifth are illegal aliens. This is similar to Lake County where only a fifth of jail inmates in the county are illegal immigrants. In Alamance and Gwinnet counties, the number of immigrants in jail is only a third (Camarota and Jessica 1).

An examination of data presented in figure 2 shows that difficulties may be experienced in drawing conclusions on the relationship between immigration and crime. Although these results depict no link between immigration and crime, estimates obtained from the secure communities initiative by the ICE show high rates if crime among immigrants. These results indicate that immigrants are less likely to commit crime compared to the native-born Americans (Camarota and Jessica 1). This is because an evaluation of institutionalization, for example, the prisons and jails, and the population present in these institutions because of criminal activity reveals that, most U.S born citizens tend to have a higher institutionalization rate compared to the foreign-born citizens. Immigrant population is therefore not associated with crime rate increase the results in figure 3 after evaluation reveals that between the year 1990 and 1992, there was a decline in immigration while the number of homicides rose within this time. From 1992 to the year 1998, there was a rise in immigration rates while the number of homicides declined. This set of data already shows the negative correlation between immigration and crime rates. From the year 1992 to 2002, there was a decline in immigration rates while the crime rates rose. This graph shows the negative relationship between the changing rates of immigration and changes in the rates of violent crimes, for instance, homicides. It is evident that one unit increase in immigration over time, results to a decrease in the number of violent crimes (Sailer, 2006).

The results shown in figure 4 declares the difference in criminal activity based on the immigration status. The results indicate that approximately 22% U.S citizens were involved in property crime in a time span of one year. This was followed by 7.7% who were legal immigrants and 4.2% who were illegal immigrants. The U.S citizens were also the majority of people who committed violent crimes. 22.7% of the U.S citizens were involved in violent crimes. 5.1% of legal residents were involved in violent crimes and only 4.2% of illegal immigrants committed violent crimes. U.S citizens were also the majority who made or sold drugs. 12.8% of U.S citizens sold drugs, while 0.0% of legal residents sold drugs and 3.3% of illegal immigrants sold or made drugs. The last criminal act evaluated in this tale is drug use. The results indicate that 66.0% of U.S residents were involved in drug use, while 35.9% of legal residents were involved in drug use, and the number of illegal immigrants involved in drug use was 37.5%. However much the immigrants might get involved in criminal activities, the rate of native resident cases is absolutely superior to them. (Nuno, 2011).     The result of the research therefore typically outlaws inconsistent speculations on this issue of crime and immigration. This is based on documented facts as displayed by the data analysis mechanisms in place

Conclusion

Crime is a multifaceted issue as it covers a wide area of activities. Critics have argued that increasing immigration cannot result to a decline in the levels of crime in the society. Although data from the studies tend to show that increasing rates of crime in the United States cannot be associated with immigration, it is evident that several reasons can be linked to this decline in crime in the past decade. Some of the reasons that have been used to illustrate this decline include new policing methods, the rising growth of incarcerated populations, the stabilization of drug markets, increasing number of police officers, and the strong economy in the country. However, data in figure 1 showing the relationship between immigration and crime rates between the different periods reveals that, the rising immigration coincides with periods of rising crime and falling crimes. These results show that the levels of immigration are irrelevant to crime rates. For example, one explanation that has been provided by many researchers on why crime rate among immigrants has been low concerns the current immigration policy in the United States (Solivetti 51). Critics have argued that the immigration policy in the country has made tremendous contributions in reducing criminal activity. However, an analysis of the national crime rates among the immigrants and the natives shows that the increasing rates of immigration cannot be associated with the rising levels of crime in the U.S.

The natives has the bull’s share of crime rate whereas the immigrants display very low rates. This shows that there has been insufficient data to support the conflicting views, therefore, further research should be done in this area, in order to, produce valid results that support either of the same. Even though data presented in these two studies tend to show that immigration is not associated with the rising crime level in the country, the data has some limitations rendering it difficult for one to draw conclusions regarding crime appreciation. Programs such as the 287(g) program should be placed at a center role in a move to conduct further research on the same. This is because such programs are likely to offer quality data by investigating the immigration statuses of people in institutions such as jails and prisons.

In conclusion, an assumption that immigrants are prone to crime is wrong. Although the incarceration of immigrants in some population in the U.S may be high, there is still insufficient evidence to convict such people because those are speculations. Moreover, this does not mean that immigrant crimes are insignificant, but if further research can be conducted on the topic, then valid conclusions can be drawn on the issue.

Works Cited

Camarota, Steven A., and Jessica Vaughan. “Immigration and Crime: Assessing a Conflicted Issue.” Center for Immigration Studies. N.p., Nov. 2009. Web. 01 Apr. 2014. Retrieved from http://cis.org/ImmigrantCrime

Edmonston, Barry, and James P. Smith. The Immigration Debate: Studies on the Economic, Demographic, and Fiscal Effects of Immigration. Washington, D.C: National Acad. Press, 1998. Print.

Gibney, Matthew J, and Randall Hansen. Immigration and Asylum: From 1900 to the Present. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 2005. Print.

Kingsbury, Kathleen. “Immigration: No Correlation With Crime.” Time. Time Inc., 27 Feb. 2008. Web. 01 Apr. 2014. Retrieved from http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1717575,00.html

Loucky, James, Jeanne Armstrong, and Lawrence J. Estrada. Immigration in America Today: An Encyclopedia. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2006. Print.

Nuno, L. E. (2011). Examining the Relationship between Immigration Status and Criminal Involvement: Do Illegal Immigrants Commit More Crime? Arizona State University. Retrieved from: https://cvpcs.asu.edu/sites/default/files/content/products/Nuno_Thesis_Final_FINAL3.pdf

Sailer, S. (2006). Sampson’s Silly Theory On Immigrants And Crime. Retrieved from http://www.vdare.com/articles/sampsons-silly-theory-on-immigrants-and-crime

Solivetti, Luigi M. Immigration, Social Integration and Crime: A Cross-national Approach. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2010. Print.

Link: http://cis.org/ImmigrantCrime

Link: http://www.vdare.com/articles/sampsons-silly-theory-on-immigrants-and-crime

Figure 4

Incidence of Self Reported Criminal Activity by Immigration Status

Link: https://cvpcs.asu.edu/sites/default/files/content/products/Nuno_Thesis_Final_FINAL3.pdf