Thread: OR: Are crime and immigration linked? {quasi SOB}

Are crime and immigration linked?
Despite an angry national debate, most academic research studies, from 1900 on, including a Portland State University assistant professor's work, don't find a connection
FACTBOX

• Studies on immigration and crime
Sunday, May 04, 2008
ESMERALDA BERMUDEZ
The Oregonian Staff

The question comes up often in the immigration debate:

Is there something about being an immigrant -- particularly an illegal immigrant -- that makes you more likely than anyone else to commit a crime?

Check Google and you'll find more than 500,000 responses. The problem is: Whom can you believe?
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A multitude of studies exists on the topic, each with its own set of limitations and caveats, simultaneously touted and debunked by people on various sides of the issue.

Critics of immigration policy lean on a few reports, including one by the Department of Justice, to argue that immigrants and violence are undeniably linked. Most academic research dating to the early 1900s shows otherwise, experts say.

A Portland State University criminologist is among the most recent to explore the idea, examining whether deportable immigrants released from Los Angeles County's jail were more likely to be rearrested than nondeportable immigrants.

"These assumptions need to be tested," said Laura Hickman, an assistant professor at PSU's College of Urban & Public Affairs who co-authored the February report. "It's our job as academics to lend knowledge to policymakers."

How that knowledge is interpreted in a politically charged climate is a source of tension. At first glance, Hickman's work suggests deportable inmates are more prone to re-offend.

But Hickman said a closer look at the data shows that their legal status was irrelevant.

Old suspicions

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Today's generations aren't the first to question whether waves of new immigrants threaten public safety.

Different customs, political histories and, often, lower incomes have historically made new immigrants suspect, said Jake Stowell, a criminologist at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

"A lot of times, folks make the argument that they are a more crime-prone group," he said.
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But studies consistently show otherwise, he said. Similar to findings from the early 1900s, several academics, including Harvard University professor Robert Sampson, are finding that the longer immigrants are in the United States, the more likely they are to engage in violence.

"The fundamental finding was that the first generation is less prone compared to the second and so on," Sampson said.

Other research shows that problems such as public drinking, graffiti, abandoned cars and overall "social decay" are tied to immigrant communities, said Wesley Skogan, a Northwestern University professor.

Criminologists say limited access to records, unreliable data, and a community that lies low can make it difficult to reach definitive conclusions. Everything from the way a question is asked, how the study pool is collected, how the math is crunched and how the conclusion is worded can end up being disputed.

The often fierce debate over whether illegal immigrants exacerbate crime has intrigued criminologists, who are increasingly testing the question in more nuanced ways: between generations, cultures, age groups, places and types of crime.

"People are exploring the issue in more creative and consistent ways -- not just in a handful of cities, but across the nation and across time," said Ramiro Martinez, a Florida International University criminologist.

Tracking study

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Hickman completed her study before arriving at PSU, while she was a researcher at the RAND Corp., a national, nonpartisan think tank.

She followed 1,297 immigrants released in a 30-day period from Los Angeles County Jail -- 517 deportable and 780 nondeportable. She tracked them for a year to see who would be rearrested, how soon and how often. Deportables included immigrants without proper documentation and legal immigrants whose status may be suspended because they were accused of a crime.

A basic comparison of percentages revealed that deportable inmates were more likely to be rearrested -- 43 percent were rearrested at least once compared with 35 percent of nondeportable inmates.
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Hickman tried to find out why. She took into account other group factors beyond immigration status -- age, criminal history, types of charges, race, country of birth. By measuring these pieces individually against the others, she found immigration status had nothing to do with the results.

Instead, she found that rearrests were driven by other common catalysts of crime: previous arrests, a younger age or a previous drug or property charge.

Hickman acknowledges the study's limitations: place of birth was self-reported, high-risk inmates were not included, and there's no telling whether results would hold true if the research were repeated at a different time or place.

The study was meant to take an initial stab at an issue that could be approached from a multitude of angles, Hickman said, not to be conclusive. She chose to focus on the Los Angeles County Jail because a previous contract with the sheriff's department there had left her useful data.

Using that same information, Hickman is moving ahead with one study looking at previously deported inmates and another comparing native-born Americans with illegal immigrants.

Criticisms

Some people see little value in the professor's work, saying it got off to the wrong start.

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"The most significant limitation is that it applies only to minor criminals," wrote Jack Martin, a director with the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a national organization that favors stricter immigration control. In its own 2007 study, FAIR found that illegal immigrants are overrepresented in U.S. prisons based on population size.

Jim Ludwick, president of Oregonians for Immigration Reform, said work like Hickman's is biased.

"They set up a scenario where they wanted to make criminals look good by saying neither one is worse than the other and, therefore, what is there to worry about?" Ludwick said, adding it is wrong for illegal immigrants to add to existing crime.
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He said illegal immigrants' attraction to crime is obvious, considering their illegal entry into the country, followed by the use of false documents.

Occasionally, the issue of crime and illegal immigration flares up publicly, as it did last summer when two illegal immigrants were accused of slaying a teenager in Clackamas County. But on a federal level, little research has been done to prove or discredit assumptions.

GAO data

The Government Accountability Office has collected data on incarcerated illegal immigrants, their crimes, arrest records and housing costs.

The Department of Justice last year looked at how many crimes were committed by illegal immigrants released from custody. Out of 262,105 criminal aliens, a sample of 100 cases were reviewed, and 73 of them had re-offended.

The federal study's sample size of 100 cases was too small, said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, chairwoman of the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law.

She said academic studies have consistently shown illegal immigrants don't gravitate to crime more than any other group.

"Some in the Republican Party say that most crime is committed by immigrants, but the facts don't support that," said the California Democrat.

Esmeralda Bermudez: 503-294-5961; ebermudez@news.oregonian.com

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonia ... thispage=1

The study was meant to take an initial stab at an issue that could be approached from a multitude of angles, Hickman said, not to be conclusive. She chose to focus on the Los Angeles County Jail because a previous contract with the sheriff's department there had left her useful data.

Well, speaking as someone that has logged about 8-9 years in the public US university system and has a humble graduate degree...

WTH does that (eg. 'useful data') mean?
Good luck defending that under the rigors of intensive academic inquiry.
What does 'useful' mean? 'Useful' to whom? For what purposes?
She used that source data because it was convenient???

In addition to the obvious criticisms outlined in the article, how about a wider geographic sample to start? One group in one city does not a population make.

Wow, I guess it isn't as hard to be a professor at a public university as it once was...

Ms. Bermudez fails us again - for the glaring and damaging omission -

She titles the story "Are Immigration and Crime Linked"?
And then later in the story discusses populations of detainees that have been convicted of 'deportable' and 'non-deportable' offenses.. WITHOHT discussing the nuances and complexities of what each entail or imply..... Not to mention, the very obvious and simple binary stratification of legality per se. In the end, someone is either here legally or they are not. The study needed to focus in surgically on that aspect and follow through accordingly. Did someone REALLY expect to navigate a surrogate factor to infer legality using data from Sanctuary Central (eg. Los Angeles???). I don't think so.

Originally Posted by PhredE

Wow, I guess it isn't as hard to be a professor at a public university as it once was...

The primary requirement for employment is that you are not a white male.

Originally Posted by millere

Originally Posted by PhredE

Wow, I guess it isn't as hard to be a professor at a public university as it once was...

The primary requirement for employment is that you are not a white male.

Well, let me comment by not commenting on that one.
But, I will say, you don't get as many 'points' associated with your application - that I do know for sure.

Originally Posted by PhredE

Well, speaking as someone that has logged about 8-9 years in the public US university system and has a humble graduate degree...

WTH does that (eg. 'useful data') mean?
Good luck defending that under the rigors of intensive academic inquiry.
What does 'useful' mean? 'Useful' to whom? For what purposes?
She used that source data because it was convenient???

Everything in the university system devolved into an anti-intellectual meltdown over the last 15 years. To give you an example: I know that if I go to google and type in something like "master's theses on the subject of immigration" I will read a wide variety of heavily indoctrinated opinions which means that most universities will require their students to be pro-illegal immigration in order to graduate.

I just came back from google.com, and here is what I found:

http://stinet.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=get ... =ADA331694

"This thesis examines the military option for border control. The findings are that the use of the military to control illegal immigration would result in lowered military readiness, and that the militarization of the border will produce tensions in U.S.-Mexico and U.S.-Latin American relations. Therefore, it is recommended that the military not be used to supplement the Border Patrol."

"Challenging educational barriers: Undocumented immigrant student advocates
by Villegas, Francisco J., M.A., San Jose State University, 2006, 99 pages; AAT 1438598
Abstract (Summary)
Undocumented Latina/o students who make it to the university contend with stressors related to race/ethnicity, undocumented status, gender, and socioeconomic status. The purpose of this study is to examine the experiences of Latina/o undocumented students in higher education. This study examines the barriers undocumented students experience in their pursuit of higher education. A secondary endeavor is determining whether the degrees they achieve will be useful. The study relies upon qualitative data, specifically field observations and seven semi-structured interviews conducted during the 2005-2006 academic year in a Bay Area university. Preliminary findings indicate that students are resilient in their academic endeavors, rely upon several sources of support including peer, familial, and institutional opportunities, and they advocate on behalf of other students. The analysis indicates that there is a need for further advocacy and research to address this vital population of students central to U.S. society and the nation's economic future."

Title: U.S. newspaper coverage of immigration in 2004: a content analysis
Author: Zhang, Jing, 1980-
Abstract: This study examined the U.S. newspaper coverage of immigration in 2004. Previous studies have focused on the ideological implication of news coverage, showing that the news frames conveyed elites?? racism toward immigrants....

millere: Hey, it's ok. I know what you are speaking of, and have seen much of what you're talking about first-hand.

Coincidentally, your 15 yr time span roughly approximates the time I was last in a higher institution of 'learning'. My opinion is: that schools are just in 'get em in, get em out' mode and aren't really that concerned about what students learn really. Or, maybe a better way of saying it, is that they are too pre-occupied in fulfilling the departmental / academic requirements than to focus much on instilling knowledge in the student that is really intellectually 'hungry' to learn something... even if that something challenges the status quo or the system's built-in and existing biases.

My experience - I was in a program that was fairly technically /mathematically intensive and really worked this into my program as much as I could. Most of the others in the program I was in decided to focus on memorizing software commands. This really didn't sit well with the power-that-be because they wanted people that didn't want or expect too much (hey, it takes more time to deal with people like me...) and could just throw the newest revision of the common software packages at them and then say 'ok, go to work!'. Of course, what those softwares did and the 'mystery' behind them were rather nebulous or vague concepts to most fellow students.

So, yes, there has been a collective 'dumbing-down' I believe as well.

I can't imagine having a blissful and uneventful ride through the modern public university system writing a graduate thesis strongly critical of the immigration current system (in most departments). Most of 'them' simply don't want to hear such things.

Originally Posted by PhredE

Coincidentally, your 15 yr time span roughly approximates the time I was last in a higher institution of 'learning'.

Yes, in 1993 I attempted to get a graduate degree from Michigan State University. I did everything I could to get hired by the university and work on research projects (for very little pay). I would hear phrases like "they will never hire a white male", and "what we need around here is more 'diversity'".