What Have We Learned about Immigration and Crime at the Individual-Level Unit of Analysis?

• In Event: Immigrants and Crime

Abstract

Over the last 15 years, there has been a tremendous growth in studies looking at the relationship between immigration and crime at the macro-level. Comparatively little study however has been undertaken that examines immigration and crime at the individual-level. This is most likely due to a lack of access to data that can be used for this unit of analysis. The paper examines the current state of knowledge around immigration and crime at the individual-level. It also describes and draws lessons from analyses of the Los Angeles County Foreign Born Jail Study data. This study examined a one-month release cohort of foreign born jail inmates and their post-jail release recidivism. With the cooperation of federal immigration, legal versus authorized status was determined for each individual in the release cohort. The series of studies resulting from this data set has allowed the examination of both short- and long-term recidivism patterns for those immigrants with and without current legal status. It has also afforded a comparison of sub-groups of immigrants on recidivism outcomes and rearrest after removal for those who were deported from the country.

Authors

• Jennifer Wong, Simon Fraser University

• Laura J. Hickman, Portland State University