Victims’ crime reports and institutional avoidance across mixed-immigrant-status and mixed-citizenship-status households, 2017 to 2023

• In Event: International Migration Section Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): 27. Immigration and the criminal-legal system

Abstract

Research finds that crime victims are less likely to call the police in areas with larger immigrant populations. However, it is less clear whether living with immigrants or noncitizens reduces victims’ likelihoods of reporting crime. This study contributes to the literatures on crime-reporting behavior, mixed-status families, and system avoidance by analyzing victims’ decisions to report crime to law enforcement across different household contexts. I draw on the 2017-2023 National Crime Victimization Surveys (NCVS) to classify native-born victims as members of mixed-immigrant-status households (native-born persons living with at least one foreign-born person) and members of mixed-citizenship-status households (native and foreign-born citizens living with at least one noncitizen). I separately analyze crime reporting across samples of violent crime victims and property crime victims. My results reveal that native-born victims who live with immigrants are less likely to call the police after experiencing property crime victimization when compared to native-born victims who do not live with immigrants. However, I do not find similar effects in the violent crime sample. Furthermore, the effects of mixed-immigrant-status and mixed-citizen-status household membership on crime reporting are moderated by race and class. Notably, the negative effects of living with immigrants and noncitizens are most pronounced amongst black victims and victims with less than a high school level of education. Overall, this study provides evidence that membership in immigrant households significantly structures crime victims’ engagement with law enforcement institutions.

Author

• Ricardo David Martinez-Schuldt, Rutgers University-New Brunswick