PDF Document, 2.29MBThe Myth of Immigrant Criminality
Published on: May 23, 2007
Incarceration Rates Have Increased
However, alongside this new era of immigration, the U.S. incarceration rate has
become the highest of any country in the world. There are more people behind
bars in the United States than in either China or India, each of which has a
population roughly 4 times larger than the United States.17 Between
1980 and 2005, the number of adults incarcerated in federal or state prisons or
in local jails in the United States quadrupled from just over 500,000 to 2.2
million. This amounts to an increase in the incarceration rate from 139
prisoners for every 100,000 people in the country to 491 per 100,000.
Two-thirds of those are in federal or state prisons and one-third in local
jails. The vast majority are young men between 18 and 39.18 According to a
1998 study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia
University, about 80 percent of those in prison either violated drug or alcohol
laws, were high at the time they committed their crimes, stole property to buy
drugs, had a history of drug and alcohol abuse and addiction, or some
combination of those characteristics.19
Department of Justice statistics on incarceration are not broken down by nativity or generation, but the available data indicate that imprisonment rates vary widely by gender, ethnicity, and education. In 2005, about 93 percent of inmates in federal and state prisons were men, and there were 3,145 non-Hispanic black male prisoners per 100,000 black males in the United States and 1,244 Hispanic males per 100,000, compared to 471 non-Hispanic white males per 100,000.20 The majority of prison inmates are high-school dropouts.21 Among some minorities, particularly native-born blacks, imprisonment has become a common and defining event for men in early adulthood. As sociologists Becky Pettit and Bruce Western have noted, black men born in the late 1960s were more likely to have prison records than either military records or college degrees, and those who were high-school dropouts had a nearly 60 percent chance of having served time in prison by the end of the 1990s.22
Department of Justice statistics on incarceration are not broken down by nativity or generation, but the available data indicate that imprisonment rates vary widely by gender, ethnicity, and education. In 2005, about 93 percent of inmates in federal and state prisons were men, and there were 3,145 non-Hispanic black male prisoners per 100,000 black males in the United States and 1,244 Hispanic males per 100,000, compared to 471 non-Hispanic white males per 100,000.20 The majority of prison inmates are high-school dropouts.21 Among some minorities, particularly native-born blacks, imprisonment has become a common and defining event for men in early adulthood. As sociologists Becky Pettit and Bruce Western have noted, black men born in the late 1960s were more likely to have prison records than either military records or college degrees, and those who were high-school dropouts had a nearly 60 percent chance of having served time in prison by the end of the 1990s.22
Immigrants Have Lower Incarceration Rates Than Natives
Conventional theories of crime and incarceration predict higher rates of
imprisonment for younger and less educated adult males from minority
groups—characteristics which describe a much greater proportion of the
foreign-born population than of the native-born, especially illegal immigrants.
Foreign-born Mexican men comprise a third of all immigrant men between the ages
of 18 and 39, have the lowest levels of education of any ethnic group in the
country, and account for the majority of illegal immigrants. Therefore, they
would be expected to have the highest rates of imprisonment, followed by
Salvadorans and Guatemalans. However, an analysis of data from the 2000 U.S.
Census23 reveals just the opposite to be the case.
In 2000, 3 percent of the 45.2 million males age 18 to 39 in the United States were in federal or state prisons or local jails at the time of the census. Surprisingly, at least from the vantage point of conventional wisdom, the incarceration rate of native-born men in this age group (3.5 percent) was 5 times higher than the incarceration rate of foreign-born men (0.7 percent). The foreign-born rate was nearly two-and-a-half times less than the 1.7 percent rate for native-born non-Hispanic white men and almost 17 times less than the 11.6 percent rate for native-born black men. The lower incarceration rate among immigrants was found in every pan-ethnic category without exception. For instance, native-born Hispanic men were nearly 7 times more likely to be in prison than foreign-born Hispanic men, while the incarceration rate of native-born non-Hispanic white men was almost 3 times higher than that of foreign-born non-Hispanic white men {Figure 3}.
In 2000, 3 percent of the 45.2 million males age 18 to 39 in the United States were in federal or state prisons or local jails at the time of the census. Surprisingly, at least from the vantage point of conventional wisdom, the incarceration rate of native-born men in this age group (3.5 percent) was 5 times higher than the incarceration rate of foreign-born men (0.7 percent). The foreign-born rate was nearly two-and-a-half times less than the 1.7 percent rate for native-born non-Hispanic white men and almost 17 times less than the 11.6 percent rate for native-born black men. The lower incarceration rate among immigrants was found in every pan-ethnic category without exception. For instance, native-born Hispanic men were nearly 7 times more likely to be in prison than foreign-born Hispanic men, while the incarceration rate of native-born non-Hispanic white men was almost 3 times higher than that of foreign-born non-Hispanic white men {Figure 3}.
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There also was wide variation in the incarceration rates of native and
foreign-born men within particular ethnic groups. Among Hispanic men, for
example, foreign-born Mexicans had an incarceration rate of only 0.7
percent—more than 8 times lower than the 5.9 percent rate of native-born males
of Mexican descent. Similarly, 0.5 percent of foreign-born Salvadoran and
Guatemalan men were in prison, compared to 3.0 percent of native-born males of
Salvadoran and Guatemalan descent {Figure 4}.24 The incarceration rates of
foreign-born Mexicans, Salvadorans, and Guatemalans were the lowest of any
Latin American immigrant group even though they were the least educated. These
three nationalities are precisely the groups that make up the majority of
illegal immigrants in the United States.
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A similar range of variation was found among Asian men. For instance,
foreign-born Chinese/Taiwanese men had an extremely low incarceration rate of
0.2 percent, which was three-and-a-half times lower than the 0.7 percent
incarceration rate of native-born men of Chinese/Taiwanese descent. The
incarceration rate of foreign-born Laotian and Cambodian men (0.9 percent) was
the highest among Asian immigrant groups, but was more than 8 times lower than
that of native-born men of Laotian and Cambodian descent (7.3 percent). With
the exception of Laotians and Cambodians, foreign-born men from Asian countries
had lower incarceration rates than those from Latin American countries, as did
their native-born counterparts. This is not surprising given that immigrants
from India, Taiwan, China, South Korea, and the Philippines are among the most
educated groups in the United States, while immigrants from Cambodia, Laos,
Mexico, and Central American countries are among the least educated {Figure
5}.25
