Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) - Crime, Corrections, And California: What Does...

8/14/2019 Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) - Crime, Corrections, And California: What Does Immigration Have to Do

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California Countspopulation trends and proiles

Crime, Corrections, and

CaliforniaWhat Does Immigration Have to Do with It?

By Kristin F. Butcher and Anne Morrison Piehlwith research support from Jay Liao

Volume 9 Number 3 February 2008

Few issues are as contentious as immigration and crime. Concern

over the eects o immigration on crime is longstanding, and bansagainst criminal aliens constituted some o the earliest restrictions

on immigration to the United States (Kanstroom, 2007). More

recently, policies adopted in the mid-1990s greatly expanded the

scope o acts or which noncitizens may be expelled rom the United States. Even so, many

calls to curtail immigration, particularly illegal immigration, appeal to public ears about

immigrants involvement in criminal activities.

Are such ears justied? On the one hand, immigration policy screens the oreign-born

or criminal history and assigns extra penalties to noncitizens who commit crimes, suggest-

ing that the oreign-born would be less likely than the U.S.-born to be involved in criminal

enterprises. On the other hand, in Caliornia, immigrants are more likely than the U.S.-bornto be young and male; they are also more likely to have low levels o education. Tese charac-

teristics are typically related to criminal activity, providing some basis or concern that immi-

grants may be more criminally active than the U.S.-born.

In this issue oCaliornia Counts, we examine the eects o immigration on public saety

in Caliornia. In our assessments, we use measures o incarceration and institutionalization as

proxies or criminal involvement. We nd that the oreign-born, who make up about 35 per-

cent o the adult population in Caliornia, constitute only about 17 percent o the adult prison

Summary

Hans P. Johnson, editor


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California Counts Crime, Corrections, and California

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population. Tus, immigrants are underrepresented in Caliornia prisons

compared to their representation in the overall population. In act, U.S.-born adult men are incarcerated at a rate over two-and-a-hal times greater

than that o oreign-born men.

Te dierence only grows when we expand our investigation. When

we consider all institutionalization (not only prisons but also jails, halway

houses, and the like) and ocus on the population that is most likely to

be in institutions because o criminal activity (men ages 1840), we nd

that, in Caliornia, U.S.-born men have an institutionalization rate that

is 10 times higher than that o oreign-born men (4.2% vs. 0.42%). And

when we compare oreign-born men to U.S.-born men with similar age

and education levels, these dierences become even greater. Indeed, ourevidence suggests that increasing educational requirements in the provision

o visas would have very little eect in the criminal justice arena.

But immigrants may aect public saety in ways other than direct

involvement in criminal activity. For example, immigrants may induce

more criminal activity among the U.S.-born by displacing the work oppor-

tunities o the U.S.-born; in other words, immigrants may take away

legal jobs, possibly leading to more crime among natives. o measure

underlying criminal activity more broadly, we also investigate crime rates

in Caliornia cities. We nd that on average, between 2000 and 2005,

cities that had a higher share o recent immigrants saw their crime ratesall urther than cities with a lower share. Tis nding is especially strong

when it comes to violent crime.

Finally, even i immigrants are less likely to engage in criminal activity

than the average native, the criminal activity o their U.S.-born children is

also o interest. Tereore, we briey discuss current evidence on later gen-

erations, nding continued low levels o criminal activity.

aken together, our ndings suggest that spending additional dollars

to reduce immigration or to increase enorcement against the oreign-born

will not have a high return in terms o public saety. Te oreign-born in

Caliornia already have extremely low rates o criminal activity.

. . . in Caliornia,

U.S.-born men havean institutionalizationrate that is 10 timeshigher than that ooreign-born men(4.2% vs. 0.42%).


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Immigration andCrime: A ComplexRelationship

Do immigrants add to thecrime risk in the popula-tion? Like any orm o populationgrowth, immigration is likely toadd to the total number o crimescommitted. However, i immi-grants are less criminally active

than the U.S.-born, then immi-gration will lead to lower overallcrime rates and lower likelihoodso any given individual becominga crime victim. O course, somecrimes, by their very nature, arecommitted onlyby immigrantsor example, illegally enteringthe country or working withouta proper visa. In the analysis pre-sented here, we ocus on criminal

activity that both the U.S.-bornand oreign-born are at risk ocommitting and that arguablyis a more direct threat to publicsaety. With that ocus in mind,we assess the relative crime ratesamong the oreign-born and theU.S.-born.

Teories about the causes ocrime operate at several levels:individual-level causes; amily,peer, or neighborhood inuences;labor market conditions; andthe inuences o alcohol, drugs,guns, and gangs. Some explana-tions emphasize the interactions opotential oenders and potentialvictims; others look at the physicalenvironment in which the crime

occurs. In addition, several theo-

ries about crime are particular toimmigrants. Sellin (1938) empha-sized the culture conict acedby immigrants as they adjust toa new set o behavioral norms.Others have examined whether,at the aggregate level, immigra-tion increases the criminal activityo the U.S.-born by displacingnatives rom work, promotingurbanization, and increasing the

variety o patterns o behavior(Sutherland, 1924).1

Many o these explanations orcriminal activityor example,high levels o povertypredictthat immigrants would haveelevated crime rates. However, itis also possible that immigrationreduces crimeor instance, thoseborn abroad may be less likely tobe involved in substance abuse,

gang lie, and violent culture,which drive so much o seriousAmerican crime.

Currently, U.S. immigrationpolicy provides several mecha-nisms that are likely to reduce thecriminal activity o immigrants.Legal immigrants are screenedwith regard to their criminalbackgrounds. In addition, all non-citizens, even those in the UnitedStates legally, are subject to depor-tation i convicted o a criminaloense that is punishable by aprison sentence o a year or more,even i that sentence is suspended.Furthermore, those in the coun-try illegally have an additionalincentive to avoid contact with

Currently, U.S.

immigration policyprovides severalmechanisms that arelikely to reduce thecriminal activity oimmigrants.

law enorcementeven or minoroensessince such contact islikely to increase the chances thattheir illegal status will be revealed.

o answer our initial ques-tionare the oreign-born morelikely than the U.S.-born to com-mit crimeswe would need acomplete set o inormation onindividuals criminal activities,regardless o whether they are evercaught, tried, convicted, or sen-tenced or these activities, and acomplete set o individual charac-teristics, including or the oreign-born the conditions under whichthey entered the country. As withmost studies, we do not have idealdata. Tis lack o data restrictsthe questions we will be able toanswer. In particular, we cannotocus on the undocumented popu-lation explicitly.


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However, we are able to dis-

tinguish between the oreign-bornand the U.S.-born when we studyincarceration in Caliornia and tocompare the incarceration rates othose with similar education lev-els and equal ages. Furthermore,we can analyze the incarcerationexperience o immigrants by coun-try o birth. And, as mentioned,we can compare the crime ratesin cities to learn how crime var-

ies with the rate o immigration.Tese analyses provide insightsinto the relationship betweencrime and immigrationinsightsthat ought to be central to thepolicy debate but that are notwidely understood.

Some Useul TermsWhen it comes to immigrants,clear denitions are crucial (see

ext Boxes 1 and 2). Te legalstatus o any oreign-born personis complicated, with many sepa-rate and potentially overlappingcategories. In public discourse, thegroup criminal aliens subject todeportation is oten conoundedwith the groups illegal aliens andundocumented workers. In act,these groups are quite distinct anddo not necessarily overlap.

Attention to denitions isimportant or several reasons.First, understanding the rulesabout the ways individuals withdierent legal status are treated ithey are apprehended or a crimegives us insight into the incentiveso various groups to avoid criminal

Cm A noncitizen who has been convicted o a crime.

g-bAnyone born outside the United States (excludingthose born abroad o U.S.-born parents or born in a U.S. outlyingarea). We mainly ocus on the oreign-born in this report.

ig mmg g Someone who is in the UnitedStates illegally. Tis group is composed o those who crossed theborder without inspection and those who entered legally but whohave overstayed the terms o their entry visa.

immgSomeone who comes to the United States with theintention o staying. Oten used interchangeably with oreign-born.

nz czA oreign-born person who has successullygone through the process to become a U.S. citizen.

nczA oreign-born person who is not a naturalized U.S.citizen. Noncitizens may be in the country legally on a permanentor temporary visa (tourist, business, or student) or may be in thecountry illegally.

pm g A oreign-born person who has a per-manent resident visa. Tese individuals are on a path to becomeeligible or citizenship.

rmvb/b A noncitizen who has been oundto be without legal status and eligible or removal. Conviction o aqualiying crime makes a noncitizen deportable, even i he or sheis a legal (but not naturalized) resident.

ucm wkA oreign-born person who either is inthe country illegally or who entered legally but is engaged in workthat is not allowed under the terms o his or her visa.

Text Box 1. Key Defnitions


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apprehension and conviction. I

convicted o a crime, immigrantsserve their sentences in correc-tional institutions beore beingadjudicated or deportation.

For permanent legal residentswho are noncitizens, the penaltyor a criminal conviction o anaggravated elony is the sentence,plus any additional time waitingor deportation procedures to becompleted, plus the nal penaltyo deportation. It is important toemphasize that even i someonecomes to the United States legally,a conviction o an aggravatedelony qualies that person ordeportation, unless he or she is anaturalized citizen.2 Tis meansthat the number o immigrants

deported or criminal activity will

include individuals who were inthe country legally.

For those who are not in thecountry legally, deportation is apotential penalty o apprehensionor a minor crime and is morelikely or conviction o a seri-ous one.3 I one is in the countryillegallyeither by illegal entryor by abusing a visathen oneis deportable even without crimi-nal activity. But criminal activitymakes it more likely that onesillegal status will come to theattention o authorities.

Second, our data do not allowus to examine criminal activity bylegal or illegal visa status. Althoughit would be interesting to know

ig mmgDeportable i status is revealed. Apprehensionor any criminal activity may lead to investigation o status.

nz czIn general, naturalized citizens cannot bedeported.

pm g Deportable or conviction o an aggra-vated elony. Te list o aggravated elonies was expanded severaltimes ater the introduction o the term in the 1988 Anti-DrugAbuse Act. It now includes any crime or which the individual issentenced to more than a year, even i the sentence is suspended.Tese rules are retroactiveeven i one committed a crime beorethe legislation that marked it as a deportable oense, one is subjectto deportation.

tmy v hAny criminal activity may lead to non-renewal o visa or to revocation.

Text Box 2. What Makes a Person Deportable?

visa status, the more importantquestion is whether in totality theoreign-born represent a higherlevel o risk to public saety thando the U.S.-born. We would liketo understand the relationshipbetween oreign birth and criminalactivity in general, whether or notthe individuals are permanent legal

residents; naturalized citizens; busi-ness, tourist, or student visa hold-ers; or the proverbial illegal entrantwho evaded the border patrol.

Tis ocus better allows us toassess whether the combination oimmigration and criminal justicepolicies that govern the oreign-bornyields a oreign-born populationthat adversely aects public saety.In most o this report, we ocus onthe totality o the oreign-born pop-ulation, but we also provide inor-mation on important subgroups.

Demographics and CrimeTere are many reasons to assumethat the oreign-born may bemore likely than the U.S.-born

. . . even i someone

comes to the UnitedStates legally, aconviction o anaggravated elonyqualifes that personor deportation,unless he or she is anaturalized citizen.


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to be involved in criminal activ-ity. In particular, the oreign-bornin Caliornia have demographiccharacteristics that are oten cor-related with criminal activity andincarceration. Figure 1 shows thatthe oreign-born are more likely

than the U.S.-born to be youngadults. Te late teenage yearsand early 20s are associated withhigher rates o criminal oending,and the 20s and 30s are associatedwith higher rates o incarceration.4In addition, among those ages1534, the oreign-born are morelikely to be male.5 Since criminaloenses are more requently com-mitted by young men, we mightexpect more criminal activityamong the oreign-born. Finally,throughout the United States,criminal activity and incarcera-tion are associated with low levelso education. Figure 2 shows that,in Caliornia, oreign-born menages 1840 have lower educational

In Caliornia, oreign-

born men ages 1840have lower educationalattainment levels thanU.S.-born men in thesame age group.

Figure 1. Age Distribution of California Men, 2000

Source: Authors calculations from the 2000 U.S. Census.

Percentage

1014

Age group

606

4

555

9

505

4

454

9

404

4

353

9

303

4

252

9

202

4

1519

65+

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