Debunking The Myth Of Immigrant Criminality: Imprisonment Among First- And Second-Generation Young Men

“The past few decades have seen the confluence of two eras in the United States: an era of mass immigration and an era of mass imprisonment. A great deal has been said and written about each, reinforcing age-old popular stereotypes about immigration and crime (a Google search for “immigration crime” immediately returns 57.2 million hits). But rarely are carefully researched connections made between the two, based on rigorous evidence.

The new era of mass immigration, accelerating since the 1970s and coming chiefly from Latin America and Asia, has transformed the ethnic and racial composition of the US population and the communities where they settle. Today, nearly 70 million persons are of foreign birth or parentage (that is, first or second generation) ”” about 23 percent of all Americans, including 76 percent of all “Hispanics” and 90 percent of all “Asians” (two pan-ethnic categories officially constructed during this period that lump together dozens of diverse nationalities) ”” composing an “immigrant-stock” population with a young age structure. This population is growing rapidly in an otherwise aging society as a result both of sustained migration and the higher fertility of immigrant women. “

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