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Immigration and Crime in Early 20th Century America

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Author Info
Carolyn Moehling () (Rutgers University, NBER)
Anne Morrison Piehl () (Rutgers University, NBER)

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Abstract

Research on crime in the late 20th century has consistently shown, that despite the public rhetoric, immigrants have lower rates of involvement in criminal activity than natives. The earliest studies of immigration and crime conducted at the beginning of the 20th century produced similar conclusions. We show, however, that the empirical findings of these early studies suffer from a form of aggregation bias due to the very different age distributions of the native and immigrant populations. We find that in 1904 prison commitment rates for more serious crimes were quite similar for the two nativity groups for all ages except ages 18 and 19 when the commitment rate for immigrants was higher than for the native born. By 1930, immigrants were less likely than natives to be committed to state and federal prisons at all ages 20 and older. But this advantage disappears when one looks at commitments for violent offenses. Immigrants in their late teens, in fact, were more likely than their native counterparts to be incarcerated for violent offenses.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Rutgers University, Department of Economics in its series Departmental Working Papers with number 200704.

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Length: 20 pages
Date of creation: 03 Aug 2007
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Handle: RePEc:rut:rutres:200704

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Related research
Keywords: immigration; crime; prison;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
K4 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior
N3 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Income, and Wealth

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Kristin F. Butcher & Anne Morrison Piehl, 1998. "Recent immigrants: Unexpected implications for crime and incarceration," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, ILR School, Cornell University, vol. 51(4), pages 654-679, July.
    Other versions:
  2. Edward L. Glaeser & Bruce Sacerdote, 1999. "Why Is There More Crime in Cities?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(S6), pages S225-S258, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Kristin F. Butcher & Anne Morrison Piehl, 2000. "The Role of Deportation in the Incarceration of Immigrants," NBER Chapters, in: Issues in the Economics of Immigration, pages 351-386 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Milo Bianchi & Paolo Buonanno & Paolo Pinotti, 2008. "Immigration and crime: an empirical analysis," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 698, Bank of Italy, Economic Research Department. [Downloadable!]
  2. Howard Bodenhorn, 2008. "Criminal Sentencing in Nineteenth Century Pennsylvania," NBER Working Papers 14283, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Milo Bianchi & Paolo Buonanno & Paolo Pinotti, 2008. "Do immigrants cause crime?," PSE Working Papers 2008-05, PSE (Ecole normale supérieure), revised Nov 2008. [Downloadable!]
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