Immigration, Collective Efficacy, Social Ties, and Violence: Unpacking the Mediating Mechanisms in Immigration Effects on Neighborhood-Level Violence

Abstract

An extensive body of research indicates that community levels of crime are either unaffected by levels of immigration or that immigration is associated with lower, not higher, rates of crime. According to the “immigrant revitalization” perspective, the protective effects of immigration are largely indirect, working through neighborhood-level processes, such as social networks, social capital, and collective efficacy. However, these mediating effects have received little empirical attention in the immigration–crime literature. Using data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, the current study seeks to extend research on immigration and crime by assessing the mediating effects of neighborhood friendship and kinship ties and collective efficacy in immigration–violence relationships. Similar to previous studies, we find that the total effect of immigrant concentration on homicide and perceptions of violence is null. However, examining the indirect pathways reveals that immigration works in complex ways, with both positive and negative influences on violence that ultimately manifest as a nonsignificant effect. Specifically, immigrant concentration is associated with lower levels of collective efficacy, thereby increasing violence, but it is simultaneously linked to stronger friendship and kinship networks, which in turn reduces violence. Implications of these findings are discussed.