Crime Under the Influence of Immigration Theories
Crime in the immigrant population has been a main topic of concern during this year’s presidential debates. Immigrants have been labeled criminals by political officials and talk of deportations have put fear in many immigrants across the United States. Although many news articles, research studies and statistical data have concluded that crime committed by immigrants are at a much lower rate than that of native Americans, the topic of immigrants committing crimes continues to surface. If the statistical research data is correct, then what is driving the topic of immigrant criminality in the headlines and political platforms? The evidence from newspaper clippings and journal articles suggest that the topic of crime has been used as a scapegoat to the real issue of faulty migration policies and processes. This paper takes a closer look at several migration theories, their structural processes, and the results of those processes that could influence criminal behavior of migrants.
Recent news articles support the fact that immigrants commit crime at a lesser rate than Native Americans. Baer (2016) reported that crime is lower in communities where immigrants reside. He cited a New York City case study from 1975-2013 which concluded that for every 1% increase in immigrants, 966 fewer crimes were committed. Statistical data in The Huffington Post shows that crime decreased in the United States as the immigrant population
Not only do some Americans believe that immigrants take jobs away from Americans, but they also believe that immigrants bring crime to America. President Donald Trump has made numerous remarks about immigration and crime, suggesting that the two are linked. However when the amount of immigrants living in America, both documented and undocumented, increased sharply between the years of 1990 and 2010, the United States violent crime rate plummeted by 45% and the property crime rate declined by
Still, the party´s statements are accusing millions of people of having committed the most serious, inhumane crimes, when in reality, the one crime they have committed, and the one they are really blaming them for, is being immigrants, which is not a crime. The Republican Party has taken away from itself the chance to see beyond its own prejudices and to look at the bigger picture. It fails to understand that what drives Mexicans and Latinos to migrate to the United Stated is not their thirst for crime and their desire to ruin the country´s economy, but the enormous whish they have of being able to grow and to fulfil their life dreams.. “Although there are exceptions, it is widely recognized that most immigrants, Mexicans in particular, selectively migrate to the United States based on characteristics that predispose them to low crime, such as motivation to work and ambition.” (Sampson). Sampson points out a logical argument. Immigration requires effort. Immigrants arrive to America with a clear purpose in
Illegal immigrants have been a hot topic lately due to the popularity of this topic amongst the Republican Presidential Nominees, especially Donald Trump. These illegal immigrants bring various things to this country when they come. Some things are positive, such as a family simply seeking to find a better life, while some things are harmful to the United States, such as the amount of crime among illegal immigrants. In July 2015, the most recent estimate of illegal immigrants was 11.2 million. This same data shoes that 56 percent of all deportations last year were convicted criminals, which accounted for 177,960 individuals (Shoichet, 2015). Crime among illegal immigrants is a problem, and sanctuary cities, which are supposed to be a solution, may be making this problem worse.
A couple of facts that counters the image of illegal immigrants as criminals include, “The anti-immigrant forces draw, for example, on the ‘2006 (first quarter) INS [immigration and Naturalization service/FBI statistical report on undocumented Immigrants’ with its array of alarming statistics about illegal immigrants and crime to make their case that undocumented immigrants not only break the law entering the country but also break the laws, with a proclivity to violent crimes, once they make their homes here.” And, “One of the most disturbing findings of the IPC study was that immigrant children and immigrants with many years in the country are more likely to become criminals than first-generation immigrants or those with less than 15
There has long been a debate over which, if any, are the most effective methods of crime control. Governments from bottom to top in our nation have poured over the issue with mixed results for as long as there has been a nation. Until very recently deterrence was completely based on fear of punishment. However, recent years have provided us with a more complete understanding of crime and its roots among the more desirable parts of our society, specifically the mind of a criminal. Through the study of psychology, specifically free will, determinism and social identity, we may find that situational crime prevention is a better means to deter crime in our nation.
Although events such as San Bernardino in 2015 provide anecdotal evidence of immigrants committing acts of extreme violence, these events are extremely rare. Nonetheless, tragedies such as these inevitably grab headlines and capture the attention of millions of Americans across the country. Tragedies such as the attack in San Bernardino hold strong emotional appeal to proponents for restrictive immigration policy. However, these rare and uncontrollable events should not provide the base of logic for America’s national immigration policy as they are not a proxy for immigrant behavior as a whole. Various statistics regarding crime among immigrants may reveal an underlying reason for lower crime rates, which is that the majority of immigrants understand the implications of committing a crime and know that it would not be in their best interest as a new member of the country they wish to call home. Natives, moreover, have crime rates five times that of immigrants. This demonstrates the potential positive externalities that immigrants contribute to the social sphere by lowering the crime rate and acting as models within urban America.
Another prominent concern regarding undocumented immigrants in general is that of their criminal intentions and activities. The notion that illegal immigrants only migrate to the United States to perpetrate misdemeanors is mostly false. Because the majority undocumented immigrants are overwhelming uneducated, this leads some natives to associate crime and negativity with these people. Yet according to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center, 80% of undocumented immigrants’ children say they are optimistic about working hard to succeed (Roman). This shows that regardless of current education levels, the number of undocumented young people that are more inclined to working in society outweigh those that would rather cause trouble. Every now and then, there may be news coverage of undocumented criminals, such as the recent Maryland rape incident, which
Immigrant’s criminal behavior is likely to change once immigrants leave their country of origin and get into a foreign country either illegally or legally. This is based on the recognition that that diverse migrant individuals are likely to have modifications in all of the constituents of life,( Nielsen and Martinez, 2011). Immigrants would have the fear of being deported back to their country’s’ of origin especially if their country’s’ are not stable politically are wars are being experienced, If they have a chance of making a decent living in the foreign country. If they are illegal immigrants they would fear the legal proceedings hence they have to lie low and keep away from the authorities. Assuming the migrants had much poorer legal labor market chances in their native country, whether attributed to their unemployment rates or their wages were lower, this would intensify the possibility of criminal behavior of immigrants compared to the natives, (Machin and Meghir 2004). If they are coming from desperate backgrounds and they need their lives to change.
It is proven that immigrants are far more afraid and less likely to as well participate in any crime involved activities, quit their jobs, shoplift, hurt others in any way, shape or form, or do something that could get them arrested. It’s the sense of fear they have for getting deported, but it may also be that good spirit in which they truly came here to start a better life with no problems. Many comparisons between cities, communities and counties are done by economists to differentiate the links of local concentration of immigrants and the rates of crime and violence in that specified area. Results showed that the higher number concentration of immigrants, the lower crime rate. There is no proven connection found between immigrants and higher crime
A quarter of the inmates in federal prisons are aliens. In a study comparing high immigration cities to low immigration cities, the high immigration cities were found to have twice as much violent crime as low immigration cities. Not only does immigration contribute to the poverty that causes crime, but also many aliens have criminal careers.
Many immigrants come to the United States in search of the opportunity to have a better life. They have the willingness to work, seek out educational opportunities and to be productive members and contributors to society. Rarely do you find those instances where immigrants come here to take, destroy all that our nation has built and established. When you hear the current administration in the media use fear, as part of cultural destructiveness to destroy how our society view other cultures and diminish the worth of individuals within their own Netting, Kettner, McMurtry, Thomas, (pg. 64, 2012). By doing that the narrative around immigrants’ changes, people start to believe that immigrants are here committing crimes and a higher rate in comparison to Americans that are born here; For instance, during one of Donald’s Trump 2016 campaign speeches he said “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best,” They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re
The thought of arriving immigrants in any host country has been accompanied by reactions of exclusion, and continues to expand throughout the years. During any social illness, immigrants tend to be the first to be held responsible by their recipient societies. Most crimes are associated with immigrants due to the fact that they may not posses the same socio-economics status as natives. Another contributing factor is the media that conducts numerous stories that highlight the image of immigrant crimes to recall the alleged difference between native and foreign born. Undoubtedly, the correlation between immigration and crime has become one of the most controversial discussions in current society. As we enter a new era, immigrants will have
Parole (early release from prison) is often referred to as the back door to the US corrections system. The concept of parole dates back to the establishment of the Elmira Reformatory. The goal of the Elmira Reformatory was to rehabilitate and reform the criminal instead of following the traditional method of silence, obedience, and labor. Parole was originally set up to encourage prisoners to do well, keep their noses clean, and become model prisoners. Once a prisoner had shown rehabilitation and reform they were released prior to the execution of their full sentence.
Crime in Urban America has been around for many years, it is atrocious and there are many reasons why people commit these crimes. Crime is a big issue all around the world and while there is more production of drugs and loss of jobs, the crime rate will continue to increase day by day. While there are many motives that contribute to crime the most obvious causes would be poverty which causes the poor to adapt into a violent and aggressive behavior to which later becomes ingrained into them. The environment where a person grows up in which could consist of gangs that participate in illegal activities. Abuse of drugs or alcohol attribute to crime because people commit abominable crimes while under the influence. The anger that an individual
Transnational crime is a growing problem. Transnational crime is defined as “self-perpetuating associations of individuals who operate transnational for the purpose of obtaining power, influence, monetary and/or commercial gains, wholly or in part by illegal means, while protecting their activities through a pattern of corruption and/ or violence, or while protecting their illegal activities through a transnational structure and the exploitation of transnational commerce or communication mechanisms.” (National Security Council, n.d.) . Transnational crimes are known under other names such as cross-national crime, global crime, international crime, and