Tuesday, May 15, 2007

This is counterintuitive, to put it mildly

This surprised me, I'll admit, and you can make of it what you will:

A recent study indicates that crime and incarceration rates are lower for illegal immigrants than for their U.S.-born counterparts. The research also indicates that crime rates increase among immigrants as they assimmilate (that is, become better educated and more proficient in English and acquire job skills).


Here's the story (with a link to the study data).

If you know of solid evidence that counters the findings of this study, share it with The Rascal.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It makes sense to me. If you're already here illegally your penalty for crime is higher, not only do you have the possibility of jail time, you also have the probability of deportation when your sentence is over.

Also, its not usually the immigrants, legal or illegal, that have the higher crime rates. Its their children, often born here and American citizens, the first generation to grow up here for whom assimilation is more difficult. The older immigrants have already established a value system before they arrive. The next generation has to choose between their parents' values and the mixed and sometimes incomplete messages they get from our society.