Thread: New California Study Sheds Light on Prison, Immigrants

New California Study Sheds Light on Prison, Immigrants
By Sean Walker - 6 Mar 2008

Researchers at the Public Policy Institute of California say new findings show immigrants are less likely than native-born Americans to commit crimes that require incarceration.

According to the February 2008 study by researchers, 35 percent of California's adult population is foreign-born, but only 17 percent of the adult populations in California prisons were born outside of the United States.

"Immigrants are underrepresented in California prisons compared to their representation in the overall population," researchers said. "In fact, U.S.-born adult men are incarcerated at a rate over two-and-half times greater than that of foreign-born men."

The study, titled "Crime, Corrections, and California: What Does Immigration Have to Do with It?" could alter public sentiment about immigrants and possibly even change aspects of immigration reform policies across the nation.

"Our findings suggest that spending additional dollars to reduce immigration or to increase enforcement against the foreign-born will not have a high return in terms of public safety," researchers concluded. "The foreign-born in California already have extremely low rates of criminal activity."

Utah's Hispanic population is also growing. According to 2005 records from the Department of Community and Culture, 11 percent of the state is Hispanic or Latino in origin, more than any other ethnic minority. More than 230,000 of Utah's 2 million residents are Latinos, compared to 46,255 Asians (1.9 percent), the next most prominent ethnic minority in the state.

"Keep in mind, [California] is by far our most populous state," said Earl Fry, a BYU political science professor. "Also, over 30 percent of its residents are foreign born. If the findings are accurate, they certainly dissipate the stereotypes about immigrants committing more serious crimes than native-born Americans.

"All undocumented immigrants who come illegally into the United States are committing a crime, no matter how one sugar coats the issue." Fry says PPIC has been known for "doing good work" in the past, and California is a very interesting state for a case study on the subject. This research may help Utah lawmakers and citizens with regards to immigration reform policies.

Dowell Myers, a professor of urban planning and demography at the University of Southern California, said he believes that findings such as these will "trim back" many unfounded claims about immigrants intended to scare the public. Much of the information used to justify these fears is based on individual fears, hopes and lies.

"The word 'illegal' may be leading some citizens to assume that immigrants are criminals who engage in a wide range of criminal behavior," Dowell said. "In fact, my observation is that noncitizen immigrants are the most careful drivers on the road. They really do not want to get tangled with the law. The hot-rodders are all flaunting their native born status."

The study also mentions deportation rates compared to imprisonment rates of immigrants. While data that is critical to examining the issue was unavailable to the PPIC, researchers were able to "make some educated guesses" after examining current deportation processes.

California law requires that all inmates of questionable migratory status are held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials while they serve their time. According to research in 2000, inmates with ICE holds served prison sentences that were 10 times longer than inmates with comparable sentence lengths.

Recently, however, as ICE sees declines in personnel staffing, many ICE-held inmates are released as officials are "insufficient to screen and process criminal offenders for deportation," according to a 2006 report from the Department of Homeland Security.

"We suspect that time lags and restrictions on placement means that deportation requirements may inflate the institutionalization rates of the foreign-born relative to their underlying criminal activity," PPIC researchers said.

Study Findings

*People born outside the U.S. make up 35 percent of California's adult population, but only 17 percent of the state prison populations.

*U.S.-born, adult men (ages 18-40) are incarcerated at a rate 3.3. times that of foreign-born men of the same age group.

*U.S.-born men are more likely to be in county jails or state prisons than foreign-born men.

*Noncitizen men from Mexico (ages 18-40) are eight times less likely to be in a correctional setting than U.S.-born men in the same age group.

--Public Policy Institute of California

http://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/67775

It doesn't matter how many of the prison inmates are native born,they are our problem. What is at issue is the number of aliens and children of illegal aliens who are in prison and who are NOT our problem. Legal immigrants and native-born of CITIZEN parents should not be part of this study.

Flawed Studies Ignore Real Impact Of Illegal Immigration

By Senator Dennis Hollingsworth (R-Murrieta), Senator Mark Wyland (R-Carlsbad), Assemblyman Martin Garrick (R-Carlsbad), Assemblyman Kevin Jefferies (R-Lake Elsinore), and Assemblyman George Plescia (R-San Diego)

Recently, two lengthy immigration studies were released that made headlines across California for their unbelievable claims made by the authors on the impact of illegal immigration in our state.

These so-called immigration experts at the Public Policy Institute of California and the Immigration Policy Center came to the misguided conclusion that illegal immigrants living in California actually help American workers earn higher wages, and break fewer laws than other demographic groups in our state.

When asked about his conclusions, the co-author of one of the reports, Ruben Rumbaut, told a newspaper that he hoped his work would “reduce prejudice.â€

Good find dragonfire.

This was also discussed at:

http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-639983-.html#639983