NCJ Number
199228
Journal
International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice Volume: 26 Issue: 2 Dated: Fall 2002 Pages: 143-163
Date Published
2002
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the immigrant and crime relationship under the rubric of an import export model, with particular reference to incarceration.
Abstract
The issue of immigration and crime encompasses a wide range of issues, such as whether immigrants commit more crime than the native-born population and the crime rates of second and third generation immigrants. This study proposed to examine the migrant crime connection on the international level in terms of specific nations importing and exporting criminals. Data were obtained on the country of birth of the inmate populations of six countries: Australia, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States. Incarceration rates were used as the indicator of criminal involvement because they are measures of persons located in specific places and are easily countable. Only tentative conclusions can be made given the limited amount of data available, but some of the findings are clear enough to warrant further in-depth study of this topic and the collection of more data. Given the small number of countries reporting, it is interesting that only a small number of countries and regions account for a high proportion of that home country’s inmate population. For example, in Albania there were twice as many Albanian-born inmates residing in foreign prisons than there were in the country itself. Except for Italy, foreign-born inmates tended to come from regions outside the region within which the host country was located, although in most cases from regions that were proximate. Results also show that the percentages of each home country’s inmate populations that were foreign-born varied remarkably. There appears to be three explanations for the high portions of foreign-born inmates found in Italy, France, and the Netherlands, compared to Canada, Australia, and the United States. The first is that the foreign-born populations are disposed for whatever reason to committing the kinds of crimes that get them sent to prison. The second explanation is that elements of the social and political arrangements in the host country are conducive to immigrant crime. The third is that there is a bias operating in the host countries’ administrative, legal, or criminal justice systems. 4 notes, 17 references