Immigration Effects on Violence Contextualized

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between Latino immigration and violence in the context of the geographic diversification of immigrants to emerging destinations. Drawing on research on immigration and literature on assimilation and place stratification, I identify circumstances in which immigration may either increase or decrease violence. I use 2001–2004 arrest data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System and the crime reporting programs of California, New York, and Texas to evaluate these circumstances. Most notably, I examine whether effects of immigration on violent offending of specific racial/ethnic groups (Latino, white, black) vary depending on whether the movement of immigrants is into established or emerging immigrant destinations and whether immigration’s effects vary by race/ethnicity within particular destinations. Findings suggest that immigration’s influence on black and Latino violence is contextualized by destination type; immigration has violence-reducing effects on Latinos and blacks in established localities but neutral or violence-increasing effects in emergent destinations.