Integrating Homicide Data to Examine Immigrant Homicide Victimization: A Three City Experiment.

• In Event: Immigration and Crime

Abstract

Research on immigration and crime has garnered increased academic attention over the past decade. Although this body or research has been successful in casting new light on many important questions, little is yet known about the factors associated with foreign-born individuals as victims of lethal violence. Using information common to both sources, this study brings together publically available mortality data as provided by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and homicide information collected from police departments. The NCHS provides annual, individual-level data for all deaths that occurred in the United States. From all deaths, homicides can be identified based on the standardized cause of death codes. In addition to demographic and cause of death information, the NCHS data also include indicators of interest to criminologists and social scientists (e.g., marital status, employment status, educational attainment). Thus, it is by combining these sources that researchers can capitalize on the unique strengths of each. The matching process was conducted for three U.S. border cities (San Diego, CA, San Antonio, TX, and Miami, FL) over a three year period (1999-2001). The results show support for the matching process and reveal new information regarding homicide victimization among the foreign-born population.

Authors

• Jacob Stowell, Northeastern University

• Ramiro Martinez, Jr., Northeastern University

• Laura Siller, Northeastern University