Essay Sample on Relationship Between Crime and Immigration

Introduction

Although there has been a significant scholarly, political, and public attention to the issue of immigration and crime, less research has focused on the criminological results of undocumented immigration. Research consistently shows that the relationship between undocumented immigration and violent crime is generally negative. According to Fox news (2015; "Statistics show the estimated 11.7 million illegal immigrants in the U.S account for 13.6 percent of all offenders sentenced for crimes committed in the U.S. Twelve percent of murder sentences, twenty percent of kidnapping sentences and sixteen percent of drug trafficking sentences are meted out to illegal immigrants(Baz,&Fernandez-Molina,2017)." In this paper, seek to answer the empirical question of whether the increase in illegal immigration has any effect on violent crime rates in America.

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Research Methodology

We examine the difference in theoretical perspective outlined earlier by using multiple data sources collected annually at the state level between 1990 and 2018. Our crime measures come from the FBI Uniform Crime Report (UCR) which counts all serious offences reported to the police. The collection of data from these sources offers several advantages to this study. The Uniform Crime Report data are the most commonly used criminal justice statistics (Mosher, Miethe & Philips, 2002). Furthermore, it has evidence of reliable reporting of serious felonies over time that accurately tracks victimization trends (Blumstein, Cohen & Rosenfield, 1991; Lauritsen, Rezey, and Heimer, 2016). Moreover, the data coverage is available for the full study period (1990-2018). Another merit this approach offers to the study of the research question is the use of state-level analyses has considerable importance in both immigration and criminological research, including studies on the etiology of crime (Duggan,2001), the general immigration process (Massey & Capoferro,2008) and unauthorised immigration specifically(Durand, Massey &Capoferro,2008). To provide a comprehensive longitudinal resource for examining the immigration-violence relationship we collect data from various integrated sources including, the Bureau of Labour Statistics, the National Prisoner Statistics and Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The use of data from this source ensures that we examine the undocumented immigration-crime relationship for the entire country hence limits the potential of making conclusions that are limited to a specific jurisdiction or geographical area. Literature review on this topic indicates that previous research on the immigration-crime relationship has utilised data from a smaller geographical area for example cities.

The research uses Pew Research Centre Estimates as one of the academic sources of data. It is one of the commonly used estimates of the undocumented immigrant population. In calculating the unauthorised estimates, Pew uses a residual methodology based on Census Bureau data, Variations of the residual method have proven to be reliable, generally accepted and applied as the best current estimates of the unauthorised population (Passel & Cohn, 2009). Although the Pew report estimates reports for the following years: 1990, 1995, 2000 and then 2005-2014. We linearly interpolate the missing years to account for the missing Pew estimates. The second is the Centre for Migration Estimates. The CMS uses the residual method based on census data but improves the technique by accounting for the components of the population change (Warren and Warren, 2013). The CMS calculates independent population controls by county of origin for unauthorised residents, this is critical because the percentage of undocumented immigrants among the foreign-born population can vary relatively based on nation of origin. Furthermore, the CMS methodology has been empirically vetted through the peer review process (Warren and Warren, 2013). The estimates from Pew and CMS are consistent through the year with an accepted correlation level. According to Warren,(2014), the close similarity of the estimates between the two studies indicates that they are approximately measuring the same population.

Conclusion

Previous research has shown that there is no positive relationship between crime and immigration, legal or undocumented. Therefore, immigrants are not responsible for the increase in crime rates. There is no empirical evidence that either illegal or legal immigration increases crime rates in the United States. In fact, most studies have found that there are lower crime rates among immigrants than non-immigrates and a higher concentration of immigrates are associated with lower crime rates.

References

Burnet, j. (2019). Illegal Immigration Does Not Increase Violent Crime, 4 Studies Show. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/2018/05/02/607652253/studies-say-illegal-immigration-does-not-increase-violent-crime

Baz, O., & Fernandez-Molina, E. (2017). Process-based model in adolescence. Analyzing police legitimacy and juvenile delinquency within a legal socialization framework. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 1-16.

Light, & Miller,(2018). does undocumented immigration increase violent crime? *. Criminology, 56(2), 370-401. doi: 10.1111/1745-9125.12175Mosher, C., Miethe, T., & Phillips, D. (2019). The Mismeasure of Crime. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books/about/The_Mismeasure_of_Crime.html?id=G9n-KxQF4UgC&redir_esc=y

Blumstein, A., Cohen, J., & Rosenfeld, R. (1991). Trend and Deviation in Crime Rates: A Comparison of UCR and NCS Data for Burglary and Robbery. National Crime Justice and Reference Journal, 86-IJ-CX-0083, 27. doi: 130192

Warren, R., & Warren, J. (2015). Unauthorized Immigration to the United States: Annual Estimates and Components of Change, by State, 1990 to 2010. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3744247/Masse,D. (2008). New Faces in New Places: The Changing Geography of American Immigration. JSTOR, 384. doi: 9781610443814