Is it dangerous to live in neighborhoods with more immigrants? Assessing the effects of immigrant concentration on crime patterns

Sungil Han, Alex R. Piquero

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The immigration-crime nexus has been the subject of much empirical attention and research findings consistently indicate that neighborhoods with large immigrant populations exhibit comparatively lower crime rates. However, it is still imperative to explain how these effects take place in different contexts of structural circumstances of communities. This study aims to examine the effects of immigrant concentration as well as its conditioning effects for racial/ethnic segregation and concentrated disadvantage in Dallas, Texas. Results show that immigrant concentration is negatively associated with crime counts and, most importantly, that immigrant concentration moderates the effect of structural conditions on crime. Generally, immigration has crime-reducing effects and helps ameliorate the negative effects of structural conditions on crime.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)52-79
Number of pages28
JournalCrime & Delinquency
Volume68
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2022

Keywords

  • communities and crime
  • immigration
  • revitalization
  • segregation

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