Residential Redlining, Immigration, and Crime: A Unique Test of the Revitalization Hypothesis

• In Event: Immigrant Communities, Generational Status, and Heterogeneity on Crime.

Abstract

Although the immigration revitalization hypothesis is the most frequently offered explanation for the observed inverse association between a community’s level of immigrant concentration and levels of lethal violence, key aspects of this hypothesis have proven difficult to test. More specifically, limitations in available data have prevented quantifying the longitudinal effect of immigration on the social structural characteristics of neighborhoods. The current study offers a unique test of this perspective by examining this association over an extended period of time across historically disadvantaged communities. Specifically, we argue that focusing on the effect of immigration on community factors such as its levels of disadvantage or patterns of family formation over time, especially among formerly residentially redlined communities, offers new insight into this complex relationship. Results from our analyses of Miami neighoborhoods over a period of five decades reveal two noteworthy patterns: 1) immigrant concentration is associated with improved structural conditions over time; and 2) the observed association is significantly stronger among formerly redlined neighborhoods. Together the findings from the first direct tests show strong support for the immigration revitalization hypothesis.

Authors

• Jacob Stowell, Northeastern University

• Ramiro Martinez, Northeastern University