| The racial and ethnic dynamics of crime and violence have changed since the European newcomers associated with the early Chicago school studies settled in the heavily industrialized urban Midwest and Northeast areas. This regional pattern is no longer a reflection of immigrant settlement and the opportunity for economic advancement is vastly different than 100 years ago. Recent immigrants, heavily Latino but increasingly Afro-Caribbean or Asian, are concentrated in Sunbelt cities, live adjacent to native-born ethnic minority communities and participate in the informal economy. The current immigration experience is still however, as in the past, rooted in urban conditions (e.g. high crime, poverty, joblessness, etc.) resembling those originally studied during the Chicago schools rise to prominence. This paper brings immigration back into the criminological research literature. There are of course several reasons why this topic has been overlooked. As many scholars have pointed out, (some) social scientists have cautiously studied subjects such as immigration and crime, since findings could fuel stereotypes promoting the image of crime-prone immigrants. Also, racially disaggregated data sets on the criminal involvement of Latinos and Haitians, whose crime rates are most likely to be affected by the recent influx of immigrants, are rare and generally require time-consuming and expensive data collection efforts. Lastly, the contemporary immigration/crime link in general remains an understudied subject, leaving basic questions unanswered about issues like selectivity among immigrants (particularly as this relates to "political" verses economic" immigration patterns), the macrosocial causes and effects of immigration,and the importance of distinctions among immigrants. |
Updated 05/20/2006