Neighborhood Immigrant Concentration and the Reporting of Violence to the Police

• In Event: Violent Victimization in the United States and Great Britain: New Findings from Victimization Surveys

Abstract

Questions about why victims report (or fail to report) violence to the police are central to our understanding of violence and social control. In this study we conduct a nationwide analysis of the influence of neighborhood immigrant concentration on the reporting of violence to the police, using data from the area-identified National Crime Victimization Surveys (NCVS) from 1996 through 2014. The analysis is timely, as researchers continue to grapple with the impacts of immigration on law enforcement, particularly following the 2008 economic downturn. The analysis will inform researchers and policymakers about the extent to which people of different racial/ethnic backgrounds are influenced by their neighborhood surroundings in their decisions to contact the police. The results will address the current lack of empirical evidence concerning the degree to which police have accurate (or adequate) data on crimes occurring in immigrant neighborhoods.

Authors

• Min Xie, University of Maryland at College Park

• Eric P Baumer, Pennsylvania State University