Immigrant Criminality: In the Eye of the Beholder?

 

                                                         by

 

                                         William F. McDonald[1]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                    Centro Studi di Politica Internazionale (CeSPI)

 

                                                                         Roma

 

                                                                 Giugno 3, 2003

                                                                             

                                                                         c 2003

                                                                             

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                       Abstract

 

 

The perception that immigrants are responsible for crime and insecurity has been a traditional focal point in the polemics about public attitudes towards immigrants.  The belief that immigrants cause crime has been explained as an expression of intolerance and general anti-immigrant sentiment; fear of job competition; and as a realistic response to rising immigrant criminality.  Using data from multi-national surveys of public opinion and selected prison data we found that none of these perennial explanations fits the data substantially better than any other.  All explanations of the belief that immigrants cause crime rates to rise are supported.  This suggests that the fear of immigrant criminality like the fear of crime in general should be understood more as a signal of a generalized sense of insecurity than as a barometer of specific attitudes or experiences regarding immigrants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                  I. Introduction

 

 

It is probably true throughout the world that most immigrant groups commit crimes at a higher rate than the general population.

 

                        —Governor Richard D. Lamm and Gary Imhoff (1985)[1]

 

            [I recommend] strengthening our deportation laws so as to more fully rid ourselves of criminal aliens.

 

                        –President Herbert Hoover (1930)[2]

 

            Generalizations about the high level of criminality of foreigners are often a cover for the expression of xenophobic feelings, along the same lines as the more frequent statements about the danger of economic damage to local workers or other biased expressions of hostility.

 

                        —Criminologist, Franco Ferracuti (1968)[3]

 

            A number of foreigners who illegally entered (Japan) have repeatedly committed despicable crimes, greatly endangering public safety in Tokyo.

 

                        --- Tokyo Governor, Shintaro Ishihara. (2001)[4] 

 

            One has to guard against knee-jerk reactions and irresponsible speculation that associates criminal acts with immigrants.

 

                        —Italian Interior Minister, Giorgio Napolitano (1997)[5]

 

An increase of 39.61% [for year 2001] has been recorded in the number of foreigners detained for all forms [of crime], but with regards to thefts in houses using force and thefts using violence and intimidation, 50% of detainees are foreigners.

 

                        —Spanish Interior Minister, Mariano Rajoy (2002)[6]

 

            It is a lie that immigration is a cause of crime; the cause is social exclusion.

 

                        —Madrid Court of Justice, Chief Prosecutor, Mariano Fernandez Bermejo (2002)[7]

 

            Mexico affirms categorically that the migratory phenomenon ... should not be confused with criminality....

                        ----Mexican Foreign Ministry (1997)[8]

 

The immigrant, considered beneficial in a period of economic growth, acquires a negative image during economic recession....  The image of the immigrant merges into that of the unemployed, the thief, the smuggler and the criminal – an image used by the parties of the extreme right.

 

                        —Didier Bigo, French Professor of Politics (1998)[9]

 

            [T]he immigrant is not the typical criminal but the typical criminalized person, not the typical example of the individual offender being punished but the model of the innocent being victimized as a member of a demonized category.

 

                        –Biko Agozino, British Professor (1996)[10]

 

                                                                  I. Introduction

 

 

            The belief that immigrants cause crime is one of those controversial ideas with many consequences.  In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in America, immigration policies were predicated on the belief that criminally inclined immigrants could be identified and either excluded or forced to post bonds.[11]  In Canada the perceived “excessive criminality” of the Chinese formed the rationale for excluding them from further immigration.[12]  Early American criminology owed much of its theorizing to the efforts by sociologists like Thorsten Sellin,[13] Donald Taft,[14] W.I. Thomas[15] and Edwin Sutherland[16] to counter the social Darwinist explanation of immigrant criminality underlying the conclusions of the U.S. Commission on Immigration of 1911.[17]

 

            In more recent times as international migration has increased around the globe the belief that immigrants cause crime has become the focal point of much concern.  On the one hand, there is real concern among people in many countries about the criminality associated with the immigrants in their communities.  On the other hand, there is real concern about the real concern.  Some people worry that the concern about the criminality of immigrants itself can have all sorts of negative consequences from breeding xenophobia, intolerance and anti-immigrant violence to supporting ungenerous, inhumane and economically unwise immigration and refugee policies.

 

            These polar concerns have been played out most clearly in Europe since the 1970s.[18]  But they are found in most  advanced industrial societies where liberal values are strongly embedded and where the ethos of political correctness has become an obstacle to the rational analysis of the deviant behavior of minorities and powerless people.  

 

            Of course it would be useful to know more about whether immigrants cause crime.  Fortunately, there are some recent studies of this relationship, done mostly by Europeans and Australians.[19]  Our study is not one of them.  We are not concerned with the reality but with the perception that immigrants cause crime. Using data from the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) as well as the General Social Survey (GSS) collected in the 1995 we examine the factors associated with the belief that immigrants cause crime.  Additional data from the World Values Survey and the Eurobarometer provide a broad comparative context for understanding differences among societies in attitudes towards immigrants/foreigners. 

 

                                II. Explaining The Perception of Immigrants as Criminals

 

            Situations that people define as real have real consequences, as W.I. Thomas noted long ago.[20]  Everyone from right-wing extremists to left-leaning liberals understand this and approach the matter accordingly.  Politicians opposed to immigration often point to immigrant criminality as a rallying call.  In doing so they run afoul of today’s potent norm of political correctness and are demonized, sometimes unfairly, for doing so. 

 

            In contrast, the politically correct try to avoid fanning anti-immigrant sentiments by not talking about immigrant criminality or even studying it.[21]  This position also has its costs.  In Europe it has produced the very opposite of what was intended.  The failure of centrist and leftist politicians to adequately address the perceived link between immigration and crime yielded the issue to the far right by default and in several countries has resulted in their loss of office notwithstanding positive records.[22]  

 

            Not only have the politicians lost, but the very cause which the left tries to advance, namely, generous and humane treatment of immigrants and asylum seekers, has been dealt a severe blow.  Moving belatedly to respond to public concerns about immigration, hard-line anti-immigrant policies have been enacted; and, anti-immigrant political parties have gained strength.[23]

 

            Perceptions of situations are influenced by many things and do not necessarily correspond to underlying realities.  The fear of crime, for example, does not correspond to the objective risk of victimization.[24]  What it actually represents is still being debated more than thirty years after the Lyndon Johnson Crime Commission pioneered the victimization survey.[25]  One consistent conclusion, however, has special relevance to understanding the belief that immigrants cause crime.  It was first reported by the Johnson Commission, namely, that the fear of crime is “at bottom, a fear of strangers.”[26] 

 

            When asked who causes crime, survey respondents regardless of their demographic characteristics or of the crime problems in their communities most frequently say it is the work of “outsiders,” (people from outside their local communities).[27]  More recently the Australian Attorney General’s Department’s victimization survey concluded that for many people the fear of crime is a fear of an “unpredictable stranger.”[28]  Given that the immigrant is the quintessential “outsider,” a stranger who is unpredictable because cultural differences prevent the reading of interpersonal cues, one can plausibly argue that the “fear of crime” overlaps with and reinforces the belief that immigrants cause crime.

 

            In effect, the fear of crime might be regarded as an expression of xenophobia, that is, a fear of strangers.  Or, putting it the other way around, one strain of xenophobia might be conceptualized as a general fear of strangers because of their unpredictability as distinct from the virulent strain of xenophobia which is based on an irrational hatred of the stranger because of his/her cultural differences.  The belief that immigrants cause crime could reflect either or both of these general social attitudes.

 

            Interpretations of perceptions of situations often say as much about the interpreter as about the perceptions.   To the politically correct, the belief that immigrants cause crime is code language for xenophobia, racism, or concern about competition for jobs.  For the right wing, references to the criminality of immigrants are appeals to traditional values, respect for authority, preservation of national culture and anti-modernization or anti-McDonaldization sentiments. 

 

            But as Sigmund Freud supposedly said when asked about the phallic symbolism of the cigar he was smoking, “A good cigar is also a good cigar!”  Whatever else they might be, references to the criminality of immigrants at least by European politicians are references to an obvious reality, one which the left discounts and the right exaggerates.. 

 

European Realities

 

            The large-scale immigration and asylum seeking in Europe that started after World War II and escalated in the 1980s and 1990s has wrought glaring transformations.  Neighborhoods and communities which were once safe to walk in have become no-go zones where foreigners deal drugs or solicit for prostitution. Crime waves with unaccustomed violence have become commonplace.  Public parks and tourist areas have been over run with homeless, destitute foreigners.[29]

 

            The new immigrants not only speak a different language but are of a different race and religion.  They are blacks from former colonies and Muslims from the Middle East.  They appear less willing or able to assimilate into the host cultures.[30]  Some have been responsible for terrorist acts.  Many are in the host countries illegally.  Some got there by fraud or with the help of transnational organized crime networks.[31] 

 

            In addition to the crime and disorder associated with some immigrants and refugees there was the general insecurity brought about by the ‘re-structuring’ of European industrial societies with its attendant social strains including de-industrialization, unemployment, and the labor movement’s loss of its traditional constituency.[32]

 

            In short, when it comes to theorizing about why Europeans in 1995 might have perceived immigrants as causing crime, there are ample grounds for hypothesizing that their perception was linked to reality.  But there are equally plausible grounds for hypothesizing that the belief was an expression of European racism and xenophobia which have reappeared in Europe since the 1970s and which according to some survey data are startlingly broad based despite the lessons of Nazi Germany, Rawanda, Srebrencia as well as governmental and private efforts to combat intolerance.[33] 

 

American Realities

 

            When it comes to explaining why Americans in the mid-nineties might have believed that immigrants cause crime the picture is a little different.  The 1990s was a decade of the highest rate of immigration growth  since the 1850s.[34] Asians and Latinos were transforming the demographics of the country.  This was noticeable everywhere.  In high immigration states like New York and California, immigrants increasingly showed up in the criminal courts and correctional systems.[35]  There were a few isolated incidents of xenophobic violence[36] but nothing approximating what happened in Germany.[37]

 

            For Americans the immigration issue was discussed almost entirely in terms of illegal immigration.[38]  The failure of the federal government to control the borders had been a scandal since the late 1970s.  By the 1990s it was having political repercussions.  Anti-immigrant activists were parking their cars at night along the San Diego-Tijuana border and shining their headlights across the no-man’s land where illegal immigrants crossed.  In 1994 Californians voted overwhelmingly in favor of Proposition 187 which sought to deny most public benefits to illegal immigrants and required public officials to report suspected illegal immigrants to federal authorities.[39]

 

            The association between criminality and immigrants was emphasized indirectly through discourse and policies designed to be politically safe and yet effective.  Arguing that the federal government had failed in its responsibility to control the borders, state and local governments demanded that it  pay for the costs associated with illegal immigrants including the costs of incarcerating those that got involved in crime.  In order to document these costs studies were done that focused on the criminality of illegal immigrants.[40]

 

            At the same time Congress gave  the concept of the “criminal alien” a broader meaning. Any immigrant, legal or illegal, who was convicted of certain crimes at any time in the past qualified under the new “aggravated felon” rule and could be deported under a streamlined procedure.  In his inimitable way, President Clinton drew careful distinctions between legal and illegal immigrants and also between immigrants who were criminals and those who were not.  The rule of law must be upheld.  Illegal immigrants and particularly criminal immigrants can not be tolerated.[41]  Immigrants who were both illegal and criminal were tarred by the President as the “least wanted”of all.[42]

 

            With a steady stream of reports from the government touting its “success” in deporting tens of thousands of criminal aliens plus occasional news items about how those deportees were wreaking crime and violence in their home countries, the public understandably may have gotten the impression that there is a fairly strong relationship between immigrants and crime.[43]

 

Realities in Other Advanced Societies

 

            In other advanced societies during the 1990s the link between immigration and crime was in the news for similar reasons.  Illegal immigration; trafficking in humans; crimes committed by foreigners; efforts to exclude and deport foreigners; and related matters kept reinforcing the juxtaposition of immigration and crime in the public’s mind.  Other countries also experienced the economic downturn of the time.

 

            In Japan, the number of foreign visitors increased about 1.7 times between 1985 and 1994 (from 2.3 million to 3.8 million); and, crime by “foreign visitors” increased “sharply” to the point where the Japanese National Police Agency described the problem as “a security threat.” The number of foreign visitors arrested for any criminal offense rose from 1,370 in 1985 to 6,989 in 1994.  The increase in the number of foreigners arrested for violent crimes rose from 125 in 1985 to 246 in 1994.  The problem of illegal immigration increased and was associated with crime. About half of the foreign visitors who were arrested for felonies and drug offenses were illegal over-stayers.[44]

 

            While in an absolute sense the number of crimes by foreign visitors in Japan is very small,[45] for a country of such low crime rates and with such a strong cultural bias against foreigners these few arrests were likely to have reinforced stereotypes.  Japanese newspapers often depict people of certain nationalities as criminals; and, shop-keepers even refuse service to people on the grounds of their nationality.[46]  Political correctness is not as forceful in Japan as elsewhere.

 

            In Australia public attitudes towards immigrants were changing once again.  After World War II Australia had embraced a high-immigration policy intended to grow the economy.  “Populate or Perish” was the slogan.  Public opinion polls in the 1960s showed about 40 percent of Australians thought immigration was too low.  By the mid-1990s, however, about 65 percent of Australians thought immigration was too high.  When an anti-immigrant party appeared out of nowhere in 1997, Australian voters defected to it in droves with 14.5 percent voting for it in the next primaries.  Analysts believed that some of the anti-immigrant attitude had to do with the increasing racial diversity occurring as a result of the termination of the White Australia immigration policy in the 1970s.  But, they said the main cause was the high unemployment and new concerns about the environment that made people reconsider the value of immigration.[47]  

 

            In New Zealand, an anti-immigration party started at the same time.[48]  It opposes immigration out of concern for the environment and the quality of life.  It also advocated crime control.[49]  In Canada by the mid-1990s there was also a renewed concern that immigrants were responsible for an inordinate and apparently increasing proportion of crimes. [50]

 

Hypotheses

 

            Explanations of the public’s perception of immigrant criminality can be sorted into several hypotheses two of which have been suggested so far.  The “reality hypothesis” holds that there is indeed a real association between immigrants and crime.  This hypothesis would be supported if it is shown that the public’s perception of immigrant criminality varies with actual rates of immigrant criminality measured by some valid indicators. The one study of this kind by Lynch and Simon supports this hypothesis.[51]

 

            Then there is the racist/xenophobic hypothesis.  It does not necessarily contradict the reality hypothesis.  It says nothing about the actual crime rates of immigrants.  Rather it asserts that the public’s belief that immigrants commit crime operates independently of the realities involved; and, more importantly, that it represents a troubling expression of a dark and morally flawed side of the public conscience.  It expresses a demeaning stereotype of immigrants, as culturally and morally, if not biologically, inferior to the native population.

 

            The racist/xenophobic hypothesis would not be disproved automatically if evidence shows that the public’s perception varies with actual rates of immigrant criminality.  Although unlikely, the association could be a coincidence.  The stronger support for this hypothesis would be a finding of no association between the actual rate of immigrant criminality and the pubic’s perception.  Indeed it is the latter situation which best describes what critics of the public’s attitudes towards immigrants have in mind, namely, the bias against immigrants is mere prejudice and without foundation in fact.

 

            There are still other possibilities.  The belief that immigrants cause crime may be linked to a general fear that immigrants represent competition for jobs, or that they are bad for the economy; or that they are harmful to the environment.  These views are distinct from mere intolerance of foreigners or other races.  Thus, if they are found to be related to the belief that immigrants cause crime, they too would diminish although not disprove the racist/xenophobic hypothesis.  Direct support for the latter hypothesis would require evidence of a notable relationship between the belief that immigrants cause crime and some valid measure of intolerance, racism or xenophobia, such as not wanting immigrants as neighbors or favoring extreme measures like expelling all immigrants from the country.

 

                         III. Criminality of Immigrants and Autochthons Across Countries

 

            Obtaining valid measures of the key concepts involved in a multi-national study of the criminality of immigrants is more challenging than the facile reference to “immigrant criminality” suggests.  Methodological, theoretical and ideological issues are involved.

 

            The comparability of crime data from different countries, cultures and legal systems is problematic for certain well known reasons: variations in legal definitions of crimes; differences in recording practices (e.g. rules regarding when an event should be regarded as a crime or not); differences in operating practices (regarding where and by whom in the justice process the main decision regarding prosecuting the case is made); factual differences (e.g. population composition and size); and problems associated with the difference between officially recorded criminality and the actual amount of crime that occurs and the racial, ethnic characteristics and immigrant status of the people involved.[52]  

 

            This last issue leads into the polemics regarding racial bias in the administration of criminal justice and into the disagreements about how “racism” should be conceptualized.  Some scholars now regard xenophobia, nationalism and anti-immigrant sentiments as forms of  “new racism.”  Common to all of them an underlying attitude regarding excluding the Other.[53]  They reflect the same kind of thinking about how social relations must be structured according to common biological or absolutist cultural characteristics.[54]  Moreover, as a practical matter anti-immigrant feelings and discrimination often overlap anti-racial and anti-religious sentiments.   Many of the immigrants to white, Judeo-Christian Europe and North America in the past several decades have been black, brown, Asian or Muslim.

 

            Whether or not one subscribes to the concept of neo-racism, the literature on racism in the administration of criminal justice must be considered when analyzing and explaining immigrant and foreigner criminality.   The influence of race and ethnicity on criminality and criminal justice decision-making has long been debated.  Scholars agree that minorities are disproportionately arrested and imprisoned for common law crimes but disagree about whether the arrest data represent disproportionate criminal involvement or selection bias.[55]  The disagreements tend to reflect differences in theoretical preferences and ideologies.  Conflict theorists tend to attribute little of the variation in racial differences in arrest rates to real differences between minority and majority group members in involvement in common law crime. 

 

            Empirical research, however, has generally failed to establish that discrimination is responsible for the disproportionately unfavorable outcomes for minorities.  Neither direct observational studies nor statistical analyses where relevant confounding variables are controlled (such as prior record or seriousness of the crime) have found consistent, systematic or substantial racial bias.[56]  Moreover, after decades of research using alternative measures of criminality such as self-reported delinquency methods and victimization surveys, empirical researchers have concluded that the official statistics on the demographic characteristics of criminals are more right than wrong.[57]

 

            This suggests that any over-representation of immigrants/foreigners in official crime statistics does not necessarily mean that the criminal justice system is biased.  By the same token it suggests that comparisons of the criminal involvement of immigrants/ foreigners vs. natives using official statistics such as incarceration rates can be regarded as having a reasonable degree of validity.  As a first draft of the story about the relative criminality of immigrants, they can be used.[58] Of course, they must be treated cautiously and, to the extent possible, the magnitude and direction of their biases must be shown, as we do below.

 

Measuring Immigrant Crime

 

            Problems with the validity of official statistics for measuring discrepancies between racial groups are even more challenging with regard to the measurement of “immigrant crime.”  Determining whether a criminal is an “immigrant” in countries with immigration policies such as the United States requires expert knowledge and access to immigration records.  Even with a maximum effort the determination can often not be made. [59]

 

            There are other difficult distinctions: immigrants vs. foreigners; citizenship vs. nativity; refugee and asylum seeker.  The term “immigrant” usually means foreigner who has come to the host country to stay for an extended period of time.  Many more foreigners enter countries for brief stays for tourism, business or transit.  As Lynch and Simon note, these “sojourning foreigners” may be recorded in police statistics as “aliens”.[60] To the extent that sojourning foreigners are included in the numerator of crime rates they must be in included in the denominator.  Yet, it is difficult to estimate the number of sojourning foreigners at a given time in a country.[61]

 

            Some “native born” are not “citizens” and some “citizens” are not “native born. ”  In the Netherlands, the Surinamese who migrated from the Dutch colony are immigrants and foreigners but are citizens by virtue of their colonial status.  The children of the guest-workers who migrated to Germany in the 1960s and ‘70s were born and raised there.  They are not truly “foreigners” ; but under the nation’s immigration policy they are not eligible for citizenship.   They are “second generation immigrants” – an oxymoron.  Some countries identify offenders by nation of birth (nativity).  Others use citizenship.  Thus differences among countries in the relative criminality of citizens versus foreigners may be an artifact of this difference.

 

            Some “crimes” only immigrants (and sojourning foreigners) can commit, namely violations of immigration laws.  Comparisons among countries of their respective foreigner incarceration rates (or ratios to citizen incarcerate rates) which do not control for type of offense therefore overstate the relative criminality of immigrants.   Immigrants and sojourning foreigners also are likely to be regarded as having a higher risk of flight to avoid prosecution.  For countries whose incarceration statistics include persons held in pretrial detention, this would inflate the number of foreigners incarcerated.[62] Also, foreigners who transport drugs across international borders are susceptible to higher risk of being discovered by border police using profiles that target foreigners.[63]  Once in a country foreigners may be detained in connection with deportation proceedings.  If their country of origin refuses to accept them, they may be held indefinitely.[64] Finally, there is also the possibility that bias against foreigners may result in greater use of incarceration for them than for natives.[65]

 

            Although there is no gainsaying these problems with cross-national comparisons of immigrant vs indigenous crime, the analysis is still worth doing.  The results must be interpreted in light of these concerns and weighed accordingly.  This kind of data is being used increasingly by researchers and polemicists.  Further use does not make the them valid but does expose them to closer scrutiny and a clearer understanding of their value and limitations.  It should be remembered that it was the frequently discussed limitations of the crime statistics published by the FBI that led to the development of victimization surveys and self-reported crime studies.

 

                                                IV.  Comparative Incarceration Rates

 

            The data being used for cross-national comparisons of immigrant vs. native criminality come from incarceration rates, mostly because they are available.[66]  The most frequently cited data come from the Council of Europe’s survey of prison statistics (SPACE).[67]  In that system the “detention rate” refers to the total number of inmates per country. [68] This includes people held in detention awaiting trial and awaiting deportation.  It also includes people incarcerated solely for the violation of immigration law, a category that has grown rapidly since the late 1980s.[69]

 

            In comparing the immigration rates across the 16 European countries for which data are available the pattern shows increases during the last two decades of the 20th century in the proportion of foreigners in the prisons populations (Table 1).  These increases correspond roughly with the migration flows to European Union Member States, which mostly increased slowly from the early-1980s and then rapidly to crests in the late 1980s and early1990s.[70] 

 

 

                                                              [Table 1 about here]

 

 

            The increases in the percentage of foreign prisoners are steeper for most countries between 1988 and 1997 than between 1983 and 1991 (Table 2).  All of these variations among countries and time periods raise questions that mostly can not be answered because of the limitations of the data.  Some may be due to real changes in relative criminality of immigrants.  The rest may be due to artifactual differences and changes, such as changes in immigration policies.[71]  The prison statistics only record all foreigners without providing a break down by type of crime; kind of detention (pretrial vs after conviction); and whether it is only an immigration offense. Nevertheless, based on these data and data regarding the number of foreigners in the respective countries, the Council of Europe reached the general conclusion that foreigners were over-represented in prisons.[72]

 

                                                             [ Table 2 about here]

           

            Similar trend data for other countries is not available.  Lynch and Simon created cross-sectional data measuring the criminality of foreigners relative to that of natives for seven countries, four of which are non-European (Table 3).[73]  Rather than compare the percentages of foreigners to natives in the prison populations, they calculated ratios of foreigners to natives.[74]  Among the seven countries the ratios vary substantially.  Among three countries where incarceration rates by type of offense are available (Japan, United States and France), there is one category of offense for which immigrants consistently exceeded non-immigrants: drug offenses. Moreover, in four other countries (Canada, Germany, Australia and England) immigrants were shown to be over-represented among those incarcerated for drug offenses than natives (either relative to their proportion in the population or as a proportion of all offenders convicted for drug crimes).[75]

 

                                                             [ Table 3 about here ]

 

 

                                        V.  Public Perceptions of Immigrant Criminality

 

            Surveys conducted in 67 nations and societies show that public opinion about immigrants varies substantially among countries from acceptance and recognition of their economic value to intolerance and fear of job competition.  The variations are not always as one might expect.  There are some ironies.  Sending countries are often more intolerant of immigrants than receiving countries. 

 

            The percent of people who did not want immigrants as neighbors varied from 4% in Brazil to 40% in South Korea in 1997.[76]  Among Member States of the European Union that year the percent of people who took the hard line that all immigrants, whether legal or illegal, and their children even those born in the host country should be sent back to their country of origin varied from 8.6% in Ireland to 36.5% in West Germany.[77]  Among 24 nations surveyed in 1995 the percent of respondents in favor of reducing the number of immigrants to their country ranged from 21.5% in Ireland to 83.8% in Hungary.[78] 

 

            The two points upon which there is noteworthy agreement are: (1) governments should do more to exclude illegal immigrants (from 65% agree in Spain to 95% in Italy); and that (2) even legally established immigrants should be expelled if they commit serious crimes (from 65% in Spain to 89% in East Germany).[79]  Illegal and criminal aliens are definitely the unwanted Others of modern times.  Call this neo-racism if you will.  It is the view held by majorities in all the countries for which survey data are available.

 

 

            Among the 24 nations surveyed the perception that immigrants were taking jobs away from natives differed in ways that would surprise Western Europeans who worried that a flood of Eastern Europeans was coming.  It was the Eastern Europeans who were most likely to say that immigrants were taking jobs away from natives (Bulgaria, 71%; Hungary 63%; Slovenia 60%; Poland, 59% compared to Sweden, 16%; Norway 20%; West Germany 27%; Italy 37%).[80] (See Table 4)

 

 

                                                              [Table 4 about here]

 

            Not surprisingly, therefore, it was also the Eastern Europeans who were most likely to say that immigrants were bad for the economy (Table 5).  But substantial proportions of people in other countries believed in 1995 that immigrants generally are good for their country’s economy.

 

 

                                                              [Table 5 about here]

 

            There is also wide variation in the percent of people who believe that immigrants increase the crime rates – from 13% in Ireland to 84% in Bulgaria (Table 6).  Clear majorities in 15 of the 24 countries surveyed agreed with this view.

 

                                                                    [Table 6 ici]

 

            The belief that immigrants increase the crime rates is strongly and significantly related to the belief that immigrants take jobs from natives in the expected direction (Table 7).  People who believe that immigrants take jobs from natives are significantly more likely to believe also that immigrants cause crime rates to increase. 

 

                                                                   [Table 7 aqui]

 

            The belief that immigrants increase the crime rates is also moderately and negatively related to the belief that immigrants are good for the economy (Table 8).  People who believe that immigrants are good for the economy are significantly more likely to disagree with the proposition that immigrants cause the crime rates to increase.

 

                                                                   [Table 8 hier]

 

            The belief that immigrants increase the crime rates is also positively and moderately related to both measures of “real”immigrant criminality examined.  The percentage of people in a country who agree that immigrants increase the crime rates (1995) is positively correlated (r = 0.594) with the rate of increase in the percentage of foreigners in the respective prisons between 1988 and 1997 (Figure 1).  Although this time frame goes beyond the period when the survey was conducted, it is appropriate to use considering the lag between the crime and the incarceration.  Many offenders who committed their crimes in or before 1995 (in time to influence the public opinion surveyed)  will just be arriving in prison in 1996 and 1997.

 

                                                                   [Figure 1 qua]

 

            Similarly, the percentage of people in a country who agree that immigrants increase the crime rates is strongly and positively correlated (r = 0.672) with the higher ratios of foreigners to natives incarcerated.[81]

 

                                                             [ Figure 2 about here]

            Also, the percentage of people in a country who agree that immigrants increase the crime rates is fairly strongly positively correlated (r = 0.622) with the percentage of people in the country two years later who took the extreme anti-immigrant position that all immigrants whether legal or illegal and their children (even ones born in the host country) should be sent back to their countries of origin (Figure 3.)

 

                                                             [Figure 3 about here]

 

 

            In addition, the belief that immigrants cause crime is related to two other measures of anti-immigrant sentiment fairly strongly and moderately, respectively.  The higher the percentage of people who said they would not want immigrants as neighbors, the higher the percent who believe that immigrants cause crime ( r  = 0.583) (Figure 4).  And, the higher the percentage of people who believe that it is especially important to teach children to learn tolerance and respect for other people, the lower the percentage that believe immigrants cause crime ( r = -0.354) (Figure 5).

 

                                                             [Figure 4 about here]

 

                                                             [Figure 5 about here]

 

                                                                  VI. Discussion

 

            These findings are based on secondary analyses of datasets that are not ideal.  The number of cases is small.  In addition to the limitations regarding the measures of immigrants criminality, there are some regarding the public opinion data.  None of the surveys contained all of the variables used.  The dependent variable of interest, namely, the perception that immigrants increase crime rates, was only asked in the 24 countries in the ISSP and only in 1995.  In order to obtain measures of tolerance and of strong anti-immigrant sentiments it was necessary to cobble together aggregate data taken from separate surveys conducted within about two years later.  Given the fast pace of immigration around the world, public opinion about immigrants undoubtedly changed during the interval.  We assume that if anything it would have become more negative towards immigrants.  Thus these findings may understate the strength of the relationship but probably do not distort its direction.  In short, these findings should be taken as tentative, pointing towards the need for more definitive tests.

 

            All of the hypotheses are supported.   People who believe that immigrants take jobs from natives are significantly more likely to believe that immigrants cause crime rates to rise.  On the other hand, people who believe that immigrants are good for the economy are significantly less likely to think that immigrants cause increases in crime. 

 

            The “reality” of immigrant crime (to the extent that it is validly reflected by either the rates of increase in the percent of prison populations that are foreigners or the ratio of foreigners to natives) is positively correlated with the belief that immigrants cause increases in crime. 

 

            There is a strong positive association between favoring an extreme anti-immigrant policy and the perception that immigrants cause.  The question about sending all immigrants back to their country of origin can certainly be regarded as a valid measure of xenophobia on its face.  However, this last finding must be interpreted with care.  

 

                                                                 VII. Conclusion

           

            As often happens with issues related to immigration, this analysis finds that things are actually more complex than expected.  The hypotheses examined represent divergent views about what the belief in immigrant criminality represents.  The favored interpretations range from that of the social critics who believe it is a surrogate for xenophobia and intolerance, to theorists who believe it reflects worries about job competition and the health of the economy, to functionalists who see it as a reflection of actual increases in immigrant crime.  Surprisingly, instead of finding that one of these interpretations is supported at the expense of the others, we found that all are supported.

                                                                             

            This analysis suggests that mono-dimensional interpretations of the public belief that immigrants cause crime are misleading at best.  They may rally support for some policy or view of immigration but they distort the truth.  Our analysis finds that all of the favorite hypotheses, like the three blind men and the elephant, do correctly identify part of the larger picture. 

 

            The belief that immigrants cause crime is related fairly strongly with the following: the perception that immigrants are taking jobs from natives; the belief that immigrants are bad for the economy; the reality of increases in the number of immigrants being incarcerated; the reality of higher incarceration ratios of immigrants to natives; the prejudice against having immigrants as neighbors; and the preference for the draconian policy to sending all immigrants back to their countries of origin.  Conversely, it is negatively related to the opinion that it is very important to teach children to be tolerant and respectful of other people.

 

            The fact that all explanations of the belief that immigrants cause crime rates to rise are supported by the data suggests that the fear of immigrant criminality like the fear of crime in general should be understood more as a signal of a generalized sense of insecurity than as a barometer of specific attitudes or experiences regarding immigrants.

 

            Honest policy makers should recognize that the public concern about immigrant criminality is fed by diverse fears and value orientations.  It is unlikely that change in any one policy area will satisfy this multidimensional concern.  Refusing to address immigrant criminality publicly, for example, is not likely to reduce or prevent anti-immigrant sentiments from developing when the flow of immigrants and asylum seekers is common knowledge.  Honest scholars should get on with developing more robust data sets with which to test these hypotheses more definitively and should foreswear distracting pontifications about what the public belief in immigrant criminality “really” means.

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

August 31, 2002 (6:43am)September 24, 2002 (2:07pm)

 

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                                                                   ENDNOTES


            [1] Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, and Deputy Director, Institute of Criminal Law & Procedure, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057-1037, U.S.A. wfm3@georgetown.edu.  Copyright 2002.

            Research for this paper was supported in part by award #95-IJ-CX-0110 from the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice and by Georgetown University. The author wishes to thank Michael Linton for his assistance.  Points of view and opinions are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice or Georgetown University or others.


[1].  Lamm, Richard D. and Gary Imhoff. 1985. The Immigration Time Bomb: The Fragmenting of America. New York, N.Y.: E.P. Dutton.

[2].  Clark, Jane P. 1969 [1931]. Deportation of Aliens from the United States to Europe. New York, N.Y.: Arno Press and The New York Times.

[3].  Ferracuti, Franco. 1968. "European Migration and Crime." Pp. 189-219 in Crime and Culture: Essays in Honor of Thorsten Sellin, edited by M. E. Wolfgang. New York, N.Y.: Wiley.

[4].  Reuters. 2001. "Tokyo Governor Warns of Illegal Immigrants' Crimes." Reuters (Tokyo), April 8.

[5].  Reuters. 1997. "Border Control Debated in Italy." Reuters (Rome), Aug. 13.

[6].  Statewatch. 2002. "News: Immigration: Spain: Minister Rebuffed Over "Criminal" Migrants" (Vol 12 No. 2). In Statewatch Bulletin. Retrieved June 11, 2002. Statewatch (http://www.statewatch.org/news/index.html).

[7].  Statewatch. 2002. "News: Immigration: Spain: Minister Rebuffed Over "Criminal" Migrants" (Vol 12 No. 2). In Statewatch Bulletin. Retrieved June 11, 2002. Statewatch (http://www.statewatch.org/news/index.html).

[8].  Associated Press. 1997. "Mexico Holds Meeting About U.S." CISNEWS@cis.Org (199708271658.MAA27105@us.net).

[9].  Bigo, Didier. 1998. "Frontiers and Security in the European Union: The Illusion of Migration Control." Pp. 148-59 in The Frontiers of Europe, edited by M. Anderson and E. Bort. Washington, DC: Pinter.

[10].  Agozino, Biko. 1996. "Changes in the Social Construct of Criminality Among the Immigrants in the United Kingdom." Pp. 103-31 in Délit d'Immigration/Immigrant Delinquency, edited by S. Palidda. Brussels: European Commission.

[11].  Neuman, Gerald L. 1993. "The Lost Century of American Immigration Law (1776-1875)." Columbia Law Review 93 (Dec.):1833-; Garis, Roy L. 1927. Immigration Restriction: A Study of the Opposition to and Regulation of Immigration Into the United States. New York, NY: MacMillan Company; Abbott, Edith. 1924. Immigration: Select Documents and Case Records. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press; Abbott, Edith, Ed. 1969 [1926]. Historical Aspects of the Immigration Problem: Select Documents. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

[12].  Samuel, T.J and R. Faustino-Santos. 1991. "Canadian Immigrants and Criminality." International Migration 29(1, March):51-76.

 

[13].  Sellin, Thorsten. 1938a. Culture Conflict and Crime. New York, N.Y.: Social Science Research Council; Sellin, Thorsten. 1938b. "Culture Conflict and Crime." American Journal of Sociology 24(1, July):97-103.

[14].  Taft, Donald R. 1933. "Does Immigration Increase Crime?" Social Forces 12 (Oct.):69-77; Taft, Donald R. 1936. "Nationality and Crime." American Sociological Review 1:724-36.

[15].  Thomas, William I. 1923. The Unadjusted Girl. Supplement to the Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology. Criminal Science Monograph, vol. 4. Boston, MA: Little, Brown.

[16].  Sutherland, Edwin H. 1927. "Is There Undue Crime Among Immigrants?" In Proceedings of the National Conference on Social Work.

[17].  U.S. Immigration Commission. Immigration and Crime S. Doc. No. 750, 61st Cong., 3d sess. Cong. (1911e); Handlin, Oscar. 1948. Race and Nationality in American Life. Boston, MA: Little, Brown; McDonald, William F. 1999. The Role of Local Law Enforcement in Controlling Illegal Immigration and Other Transnational Crime: Final Report. Unpublished. Report. NIJ Visiting Fellowship.

[18].  Albrecht, Hans-Jorg. 1996. "Ethnic Minorities and Crime: The Construction of Foreigners' Crime in the Federal Republic of Germany." Pp. 83-102 in Délit d'Immigration/Immigrant Delinquency, edited by S. Palidda. Brussels: European Commission; Palidda, Salvatore, Editor. 1996a. Délit d'Immigration/Immigrant Delinquency. EUR; 17472 FR/EN. Bruxelles: European Commission.

[19].  Albrecht, Peter-Alexis, Christian Pfeiffer, and Klaus Zapka. 1978. Reactions of the Agencies of Social Control to Crimes of Young Foreigners in the Federal Republic of Germany. International Summaries. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice; Albrecht, Peter-Alexis. 1987. "Foreign Minorities and the Criminal Justice System in The  Federal Republic of Germany." Howard  Journal 26(4, Nov.):272-82; Hazelhurst, Kayleen M. 1987. Migration, Ethnicity, and Crime in Australian Society. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology; Hazelhurst, Kayleen M. 1990. Crime Prevention for Migrant Communities. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology; Tournier, Pierre and Phillippe Robert. 1990. "International Summaries: Foreign Nationals in the French Criminal Justice System." National Institute of Justice/ National  Criminal Justice Reference Service Paper. NCJ Number: 123338, Rockville, MD; Tonry, Michael. 1996. "Introduction." Pp. 1-29 in Ethnicity, Crime, and Immigration: Comparative and Cross-National Perspectives, edited by M. Tonry. Chicago, IL: Unversity of Chicago Press; Agozino, Biko. 1996. "Changes in the Social Construct of Criminality Among the Immigrants in the United Kingdom." Pp. 103-31 in Délit d'Immigration/Immigrant Delinquency, edited by S. Palidda. Brussels: European Commission; Marsh, Jon and Nadia Jamal. 1998. "Migrant Crime Link: "A Lethal Cocktail"." Sydney Morning Herald, Nov. 2.

 

[20].  Thomas, William I. 1923. The Unadjusted Girl. Supplement to the Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology. Criminal Science Monograph, vol. 4. Boston, MA: Little, Brown.

[21]. In Sweden from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s journalists largely avoided reporting the identity of offenders in terms of nationality, citizenship or ethnicity.  An expert committee had recommended this policy in order to avoid turning public opinion against immigrants and minorities.  Most researchers also kept away from the topic. Only one researcher in 25 years had studied the matter.  In the mid-1980s when the economy faltered and unemployment rose, this tacit agreement evaporated.  Westin, Charles. 1998. "On Migration and Criminal Offense: Report on a Study from Sweden." Http://Www.Imis.Uni-Osnabrueck.de. IMIS-Beitrage, 8:7-29.

            In the United States in the mid-1980s a similar avoidance was decried by Governor Lamm and Gary Imhoff who claimed, “The relationship of immigration and crime is by general, unspoken agreement a taboo subject for researchers and for the popular press.“  Lamm, Richard D. and Gary Imhoff. 1985. The Immigration Time Bomb: The Fragmenting of America. New York, N.Y.: E.P. Dutton.. 

            In France, debate on immigration became a ‘taboo’ according to Bigo “because public figures [were] afraid to discuss it for fear of helping to promote the views of Front National.”  Bigo, Didier. 1998. "Frontiers and Security in the European Union: The Illusion of Migration Control." Pp. 148-59 in The Frontiers of Europe, edited by M. Anderson and E. Bort. Washington, DC: Pinter.. See Bigo for an excellent portrayal of the burlesque versions of fears of the left and the right about immigration in Europe.

            In Belgium, a parliamentary committee reported that the Saudi-backed Salafi movement had created an Islamic religious “state” within Belgium where 350,000 Muslims reside. It concluded that Belgium had become "a logistical support base" for terrorists where recruits were found and trained and passports obtained.  It was an ideal base because of the “hands off” attitude towards the immigrants.

            Referring to the report’s finding, Filip Deman, a leader of the growing anti-immigrant Vlaams Blok movement and a member of the parliamentary committee, said Belgium's leaders had been ignoring the Muslim issue for years.  He said: "It was taboo to even talk about it under our code of political correctness, but this report cannot be ignored."  Evans-Pritchard, Ambrose. 2002. "Belgium Is 'Launch Pad for Terrorists'." Http://News.Telegraph.Co.Uk/News/Main.Jhtml?Xml=/News/2002/06/04/Wbelg04.Xml. The Telegraph (U.K.), June 4.

[22].  Applebaum, Anne. 2002. "Europe, Not Sure What to Make of Itself." The Washington Post, May 5, p. B01; Richburg, Keith B. 2002. "Immigrants Are Prime Issue of Dutch Vote: Slain Politician Set Themes of Campaign." Http://Www.Washingtonpost.Com/Ac2/Wp-Dyn/A17166-2002May14. The Washington Post, May15, p. A18; Richburg, Keith B. 2002. "Dutch Push Europe Further Right." Http://Www.Washingtonpost.Com/Ac2/Wp-Dyn/A23137-2002May15. The Washington Post, 16 May, p. A20; Reynolds, Paul. 2002. "'Fortress Europe' Raises the Drawbridge." Http://News.Bbc.Co.Uk/Hi/English/World/Europe/Newsid_2042000/2042779.Stm. The British Broadcasting Corporation, June 18.

 

[23].  The aftermath of the surprising second place showing of right wing extremist, Jean Marie Le Pen in the first round of the 2002 French presidential elections illustrates the point.  President Chirac quickly seized the issue.  He appointed a new security czar, established 28 regional police units to patrol the immigrant neighborhoods where the crime problems occur and equipped them with new pistols that shoot non-fatal rubber balls. 

            The Italian Parliament enacted draconian new legislation that would expel immigrant workers when they lost their jobs and would fingerprint all immigrants. Prime Minister Tony Blair proposed to cut aid to countries that refuse to take back asylum seekers whose applications denied; and a memo was leaked indicating his interest in sending the Royal Navy to the Mediterranean to intercept people traffickers. 

            At the EU summit meeting in June immigration control was at the top of the agenda. Anti-immigrant parties in Belgium, Switzerland, Norway and Denmark gain strength.  Harding, Gareth. 2002. "Analysis: Immigration Tops EU Agenda, Pt.1." Http://Www.Upi.Com/Print.Cfm?StoryID=03062002-110830-7526r. United Press International (Brussels), June 3; Harding, Gareth. 2002. "EU Struggles with Asylum Issues." United Press International, June 7; Harding, Gareth. 2002. "EU Clamps Down on Illegal Immigrants." Http://Www.Upi.Com/View.Cfm?StoryID=13062002-113810-4870r. United Press International (Luxembourg), June 13; Wall Street Journal. 2002. "A Lose-Lose Proposition." The Wall Street Journal, June 6; Geyer, Georgie Ann. 2002. "Europe Revs Up New Policies to Curb Immigration." The Chicago Tribune, June 7; Richburg, Keith B. 2002. "Fear of Crime Still on Ballot: Chirac Seizes the Issue as French Legislative Elections Near." Http://Www.Washingtonpost.Com/Wp-Dyn/Articles/A14888-2002Jun7.Html, June 8.

            Two of the most tolerant societies in Europe, Denmark and The Netherlands, have enacted harsh immigration restrictions (Osborn 20020629; Richburg 20020711}. See also  Meade, Geoff. 2002. "Belgium Joins Illegal Immigrant Crackdown." The Press Association (UK), July 12..

[24]. The disparity between an individual’s risk of victimization and his/her responses to questions about their perceptions of safety and fear of crime has become known as the “risk-victimization paradox.”  Australia. Attorney General's Department. National Campaign Against Violence and Crime Unit. 1998. Fear of Crime. Http://www.ncavac.gov.au/ncp/publications/pdf/no2_summary.pdf. Australia: Author.

[25].  Ditton, Jason, Stephen Farrall, Jon Bannister, and Elizabeth Gilchrist. 1998. "Measuring Fear of Crime." Criminal Justice Matters 31 (Spring):10-12; Ditton, Jason, Jon Bannister, Elizabeth Gilchrist, and Stephen Farrall. 1999. "Afraid or  Angry? Recalibrating the Fear of Crime." International Review of Victimology 6(2):83-99; Ditton, Jason. and Stephen Farrall. 2000. The Fear of Crime. The International Library of Criminology, Criminal Justice & Penology. Burlington, VT: Ashgate; Ferraro, Kenneth F. 1995. Fear of Crime: Interpreting Victimization Risk. SUNY Series in New Directions in Crime and Justice Studies. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press; Warr, Mark, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/criminal_justice2000/vol4_2000.html. 2000. "Fear of Crime in the United States: Avenues for Research and Policy." Pp. 451-89 in Criminal Justice, vol. 4, Measurement and Analysis of Crime and Justice. Washingrton, DC: National Institute of Justice.

 

[26].  President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice. 1967a. The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

[27].  Hindelang, Michael J., Michael R. Gottfredson, and James Garofalo. 1978. Victims of Personal Crime: An Empirical Foundation for a Theory of Personal Victimization. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger; Waller, Irvin. 1984. "Victimization Surveys and Public Policy." Pp. 93-100 in Victimization and Fear of Crime: World Perspectives. NCJ-93872, edited by R. Block. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics; Skogan, Wesley. 1987. "Fear of Crime and Neighborhood Change." Pp. 203-30 in Crime and Justice: A Review of Research, vol. 8, Communities and Crime. Chicago. IL: Univesity of Chicago Press.

[28].  Australia. Attorney General's Department. National Campaign Against Violence and Crime Unit. 1998. Fear of Crime. Http://www.ncavac.gov.au/ncp/publications/pdf/no2_summary.pdf. Australia: Author.

[29].  Whitney, Craig R. 1995. "Europeans Struggle to Balance Old Ways With New Muslim Immigrants." The New York Times, May 5, p. 4; Applebaum, Anne. 2002. "Europe, Not Sure What to Make of Itself." The Washington Post, May 5, p. B01; Ignatius, David. 2002. .".. Racial Blinders." The Washington Post, April 26, p. A29; Bernstein, Richard. 1984. "Montmarte Murders: A Neighborhood Changes." The New York Times, Nov. 20, p. A2; Facts on File. 1984. "Crime Wave Hits Paris." Facts on File World News Digest, Dec. 7, World News: France, p. 915 D2; Richburg, Keith B. 2002. "One Issue Turns French Leftist Stronghold to Right." The Washington Post, April 26, p. A16; Richburg, Keith B. 2002. "Immigrants Are Prime Issue of Dutch Vote: Slain Politician Set Themes of Campaign." Http://Www.Washingtonpost.Com/Ac2/Wp-Dyn/A17166-2002May14. The Washington Post, May15, p. A18.

[30].  Bawer, Bruce. 2002. "Tolerating Intolerance: The Challenge of Fundamentalist Islam in Western Europe." Number 3. Partisan Review, July 22.

[31].  Savona, Ernesto U., S. Adamoli, P. Zoffi, and Michael DeFeo. 1995. Organized Crime Across the Borders: Preliminary Results. Helsinki,  Finland: United Nations European  Institute for Crime Prevention  and Control.

[32].  Gang, Ira N., Francisco L. Rivera-Batiz, and Myeong-Su Yun. 2001. "Economic Strain, Ethnic Concentration and Attitudes Towards Foreigners in the European Union," Economics, University of Western Ontario, Nov. 12. http://publish.uwo.ca/~myun/papers/Attitude-12Nov.pdf. Unpublished paper.

[33].  Ford, Glyn. 1992. Fascist Europe: The Rise of Racism and Xenophobia. London Concord, Mass.: Pluto Press; Commission of the European Communities. 1992. Legal Instruments to Combat Racism and Xenophobia. Brussels: Directorate, General Employment, Industrial Relations and Social Affairs; Castles, Stephen. 1993. "Migrations and Minorities in Europe. Perspectives for the 1990s: Eleven Hypotheses." In Racism and Migration in Western Europe, edited by J. Wrench and J. Solomos. Oxford: Berg; Wrench, John and John Solomos. 1993. Racism and Migration in Western Europe. Oxford, UK: Berg; Council of Europe. 1997. Tackling Racist and Xenophobic Violence in Europe: Case Studies. Community Relations. Strasbourg: Council of Europe; Dieckmann, Bernhard, Michael Wimmer, and Christoph Wulf. 1997. Violence--Racism, Nationalism, Xenophobia. European Studies in Education. Münster: Waxmann; Cohen, Roger. 2000. "Europe's Migrant Fears Rend a Spanish Town." The New York Times, May 8; O'Neill, Helen. 2000. "Island of the Welcomes Finds Prejudice Tainting Its Shores." The Associated Press (Dublin, Ireland), Feb. 26; AP-Dow Jones News Service, msk@mail.us.net. 1996. "Switzerland Narrowly Rejects Anti-Immigrant Amendment." 199612041429.JAA09066@us.Net. CISNEWS, Dec. 4..  In1997 a European Commission survey of 16,000 people in the 15 countries of the Union found that a third of EU citizens admitted being “very racist” or “quite racist”  European Commission. 1997. "Racism and Xenophobia in Europe" (Eurobarometer 47.1). In Eurobarometer; Viviano, Frank. 1999. "Europe Suddenly Doesn't Even Recognize Itself." San Francisco Chronicle, March 5, p. A1..  In March 2002 German Ex-Chancellor Helmut Schmidt complained that there were too many immigrants in Germany and said that they had not been assimilated because Germans were “racists deep down.”  Hooper, John. 2002. "Germans Racist, Says Schmidt: Ex-Chancellor Complains Country Has Too Many Foreigners as a Result of Guilty Feelings Over the Nazis." Http://Www.Guardian.Co.Uk/International/Story/0,3604,675888,00.Html. The Guardian (U.K.), Mar. 29.

[34].  Dinan, Stephen. 2002. "Immigration Growth at Highest Rate in 150 Years." Http://Www.Washtimes.Com/National/20020605-76931088.Htm, June 5.

[35].  Waters, Tony. 1999. Crime and Immigrant Youth. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage; New York. Department of Correctional Services. 1986. Nationality of Foreign-Born Inmates: Executive Summary. September.  Unpublished paper. Division of Program Planning, Research and Evaluation. Albany, N.Y.: Author.

[36].  Wisckol, Martin. 1990. "Crime in the Hills: Overtones of Racism Apparent." Times-Advocate, Jan. 14, pp. B1, b2; Barfield, Chet. 1989. "Youths Terrorize Migrants With Gunfire, Paint Pellets." San Diego Tribune, Oct. 11, p. B1; Eisenstadt, Todd A and Cathryn L. Thorup. 1994. Caring Capacity Versus Carrying Capacity: Community Responses to Mexican Immigration in San Diego's North County. San Diego, CA: The Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, University of California; McDonnell, Patrick J. 1998. "Mexican Arrivals Seek New Frontiers." Los Angeles Times, Jan. 1; McDonald, William F. 1999. The Changing Boundaries of Law Enforcement: State and Local Law Enforcement, Illegal Immigration and Transnational Crime Control: Final Report. Unpublished report. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice.

[37].  In Germany the number of violent crimes against foreigners rose from 152 in 1990 to 1,257 in 1991 to 2,544 in 1992.  Krueger, Alan B. and Jorn-Steffen Pischke. 1996. "A Statistical Analysis of Crime Against Foreigners in Unified Germany." The Journal of Human Resources 32(1, March):182-209..  See also,  New York Times. 1993. "The Solingen Tragedy." The New York Times, June 4, p. A30; Atkinson, Rick. 1996. "Haunted By History: Germans Grapple with Guilt, Foreigners and Neo-Nazis." The Washington Post, Jan. 27, p. A14.

[38]. A Gallop poll in June 1993 found that 68% of Americans believed that most immigrants to the United States “in the last few years” were here illegally.  The Gallop Poll. 2002. "Immigration." Retrieved Aug. 8, 2002. PollingReport.com (http://www.pollingreport.com/race.htm)..  In fact the number of illegal immigrants in the country was estimated at about 5 million in 1996 with about a net 275,000 more per year.  The number of legal immigrants in the country as of the 1990 Census was almost 20 million, 8 million of whom had naturalized.  Between 1981 and 1996 legal immigrants arrived at the rate of about 850,000 per year.  U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. 2001. "Country of Origin." In Immigration and Naturalizatoin Statistics. Retrieved Aug. 9, 2002. Washington, DC: Author (http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/aboutins/statistics/299.htm); U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. 1998. "Illegal Alien Resident Population." In INS Statistics. Retrieved 250199 (http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/textonly/stats/illegalalien/index.html).

[39].  Suro, Roberto. 1994. "Proposition 187 Could Open Pandora's Box for GOP." The Washington Post, Nov. 11, p. A24; McDonald, William F. 1997. "Illegal Immigration: Crime, Ramifications and Control (The American Experience)." Pp. 65-86 in Crime and Law Enforcement in the Global Village, edited by W. F. McDonald. Cincinnati, OH: Anderson Publishers.

[40].  Clark, Rebecca L., Jeffrey S. Passel, Wendy N. Zimmermann, and Michael E. Fix. 1994. Fiscal Impacts of Undocumented Aliens: Selected Estimates for Seven States. Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute; Pennell, Susan, Christine Curtis, and Jeff Tayman. 1989. The Impact of Illegal Immigration on the Criminal Justice System. San Diego, CA.: San Diego Association of Governments; California. Senate. Special Committee on Border Issues. 1993. Illegal Immigration in San Diego County: An Analysis of Costs and Revenues. By Richard A. Parker and Louis M Rea. Sacramento, CA.: Author.

[41].  McDonald, William F. 1999. "U.S. Immigration Policy: Lessons from a Nation of Immigrants." Band 29  Academy of European Law, Trier. Pp. 51-62 in From Schengen to Amsterdam: Towards a European Immigration and Asylum Legislation, edited by K. Hailbronner and P. Weil. Koln: Bundesanzeiger; McDonald, William F. 1997. "Illegal Immigration: Crime, Ramifications and Control (The American Experience)." Pp. 65-86 in Crime and Law Enforcement in the Global Village, edited by W. F. McDonald. Cincinnati, OH: Anderson Publishers.

[42].  Goshko, John M. 1995. "President Labels Criminal Illegal Alien Least Wanted: Officials in California, Florida Disagree on Worth of Program to Increase Deportations." The Washington Post, May 31, p. A14.

[43].  Associated Press. 1995. "U.S. Boots Record Number Aliens," Dec. 27; U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. 1996. "INS Reports February Alien Removals Exceed Last Year by 53 Percent." U.S. Newswire, March 28; U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. 1997. "INS Removes Record Number of Criminal, Illegal Aliens." U.S. Newswire, May 13; Faul, Michelle, msk@cis.org. 1997. "Deportations Blamed for Caribbean Crime." 199704241243.IAA08881@us.Net. The Associated Press, April 24; Rohter, Larry. 1997. "Deportees From the U.S. Unwelcome in El Salvador." The New York Times, Aug.10.

[44]. “Foreign visitors” excludes foreigners who are permanent residents of Japan; U.S. forces personnel; and foreigners whose qualifications to stay in Japan are not known  Japan. Ministry of Justice. National Police Agency. 1995. The White Paper on Police. Tokyo: The Japan Times.. 

            The number of visiting foreigners who violated the immigration control law and were “cleared by the police” rose from 853 in 1985 to 4,886 in 1994.  Japan. Ministry of Justice. Research and Training Insitute. 1995. The Summary of the White Paper on Crime. Tokyo: Ministry of Justice.

            See also,  Anon. 1997. "Untitled (About Foreigners Arrested in Japan)." 199708211329.JAA17892@us.Net. Kyodo News Service, Aug. 21; Reuters. 1997. "Japanese Nab Chinese in Cooler Truck." 199705011550.LAA06352@us.Net. CISNEWS. Kumaaoto, Japan, May 1.

[45]. Proportionately, crime by foreigners is comparatively high.  Foreign visitors to Japan are estimated to represent about 0.9% of Japan’s total population of 14-year-olds and over.  But, they account for 2.3% of the total arrests made in 1994 for criminal offenses.  Japan. Ministry of Justice. National Police Agency. 1995. The White Paper on Police. Tokyo: The Japan Times.

[46].  French, Howard W. 1999. "Japan's Cultural Bias Against Foreigners Comes Under Attack." The New York Times, Nov. 15.

[47].  Thompson-Noel, Michael. 1982. "Australia Cracks Down on Illegal Immigrants." The Financial Times (London), Sept. 27, p. 4; Perry, Michael. 1998. "Australians Question Value of Immigration." Reuters (Sydney), June 23; Nelson, Jane. 1998. "Australian Poll Shows Voters Flooding to Hanson." Reuters (Canberra), June 23.

[48].  Center for Immigration Studies. 1997. "Overseas Immigration News." 199708141513.LAA28203@us.Net. In Overseas Immigration News. CISNEWS@cis.org, Aug. 14.

[49].  Peters, Winston. 1999. "Issues for Debate: The Public's Right to Know" (Speech). In New Zealand First. Retrieved June 20, 2002 (http://www.nzfirst.org.nz/speech/wps160299.htm); Anon. 2002. "Peters Will Not 'Do a Deal' Over Tauranga." Http://Www.Stuff.Co.Nz/Inl/Print/0,1103,1239460a6160,FF.Html. Stuff, June 21. By the summer of 2002 all parties were stating their positions regarding immigration policies.  The New Zealand First party leader, Winston Peters, was accused of racism and of adopting Jean Marie Le Pen style campaign speeches that mixed crime, race and immigration into what Prime Minister Helen Clark called a “heady mix” that was “deeply offensive.”  Young, Audrey and John Armstrong. 2002. "No Place for Our Families in Peters' NZ, Say MPs." Http://Www.Nzherald.Co.Nz/Storydisplay.Cfm?StoryID=2051024. The New Zealand Herald, July 9.

[50].  Borowski, Allan and Derrick Thomas. 1994. "Immigration and Crime." Pp. 631-52 in Immigration and Refugee Policy: Australia and Canada Compared, edited by H. Adelman, A. Borowski, M. Burstein and L. Foster. Toronto: University of Toronto; Yeager, Matthew G. 1996. Immigrants and Criminality: A Meta Survey. Ottawa: Canada. Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration. Http://www.cyberus.ca/~myeager/art-1.htm..  A Reform Party leader linked immigration to violent crime.  Canadian Press. 1995a. "Immigrants Draw Blame for Crime at U.S. Rally: "Murdering Our Children"." Globe and Mail (Canada), May 10, p. A9; Canadian Press. 1995b. "Reform MP Links Crime, Immigrants at U.S. Rally." The Toronto Star, May 10. The renewed concern about immigrant criminality began in the late 1980's.  Samuel, T.J and R. Faustino-Santos. 1991. "Canadian Immigrants and Criminality." International Migration 29(1, March):51-76.

[51].  Lynch, James P. and Rita J. Simon. 1999. "A Comparative Assessment of Criminal Involvement Among Immigrants and Natives Across Seven Nations." International Criminal Justice Review 9:1-17.

[52].  van Dijk, Jan and Kristina Kangaspunta. 2000. "Piecing Together the Cross-National Crime Puzzle." National Institute of Justice Journal, Jan.:34-41; Reichel, Philip L. 2002. Comparative Criminal Justice: A Topic Approach. 3. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall; Newman, Graeme and Gregory J. Howard. 1999. "Introduction: Data Sources and Their Use." Pp. 25-42 in Global Report on Crime and Justice, edited by G. Newman. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

[53].  Miles, Robert. 1982. Racism and Migrant Labour. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul; Barker, Martin. 1982. The New Racism: Conservatives and the Ideology of the Tribe. Frederick, MD: Aletheia Books; Miles, Robert. 1989. Racism. Key Ideas. London: Routledge; Miles, Robert. 1993. "The Articulation of Racism and Nationalism: Reflections on European History." Pp. 35-52 in Racism and Migration in Western Europe, edited by J. Wrench and J. Solomos. Oxford: Berg.

[54].  Silverman, Maxim. 1992. Deconstructing the Nation: Immigration, Racism, and Citizenship in Modern France. Critical Studies in Racism and Migration. London: Routledge.

[55].  Hindelang, Michael J. 1978. "Race and Involvement in Common Law Personal Crimes." American Sociological Review 43(1, Feb.):93-109.

      The differentials involved can be substantial.  In the United States black males living in large cities have a 51% chance of being arrested at least once for an index crime during their lives, compared to only 14% for white males. XXX  The lifetime probability of being incarcerated is 28.5% for black males and 16.0% for Hispanic males compared to 4.4% for white males.  Bonczar, Thomas P. and Allen J. Beck. 1997. Lifetime Likelihood of Going to State or Federal Prison. Special Report No. NCJ-160092. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics..

 

[56].  Hindelang, Michael J., Travis Hirschi, and Joseph G. Weis. 1979. "Correlates of Delinquency: The Illusion of Discrepancy Between Self-Report and Official Measues." American Sociological Review 44(6, Dec.):995-1014.

[57].  Wolfgang, Marvin, Robert Figlio, and Thorsten Sellin. 1972. Delinquency in a Birth Cohort. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press; Green, Edward. 1970. "Race, Social Status, and Criminal Arrest." American Sociological Review 35(3, Jun.):476-90; Nagel Bernstein, Ilene, William R. Kelly, and Patricia A. Doyle. 1977. "Societal Reaction to Deviants: The Case of Criminal Defendants." American Sociological Review 42(5, Oct.):743-55; Hindelang, Michael J. 1978. "Race and Involvement in Common Law Personal Crimes." American Sociological Review 43(1, Feb.):93-109; Kleck, Gary. 1981. "Evidence on the Death Penalty." American Sociological Review 46(6, Dec.):783-805; Smith, Douglas A. and Christie A. Visher. 1981. "Street-Level Justice: Situational Determinants of Police Arrest Decisions." Social Problems 29(2):167-77; Smith, David John and Jeremy Gray. 1983. The Police in Action. Police and People in London, vol. 4. London: Policy Studies Institute; Walker, Monica. 1987. "Interpreting Race and Crime Statistics." Journal of the Royal Statistical Society 150(1):39-56; Junger, Marianne. 1988. "Racial Discrimination in The Netherlands." Sociology and Social Research 72:211-16; Petersilia, Joan. 1985. "Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System: A Summary." Crime and Delinquency 31:15-34; Black, Donald. 1980. The Manners and Customs of the Police. New York, NY: Academic Press; Wilbanks, William. 1987. The Myth of a Racist Criminal Justice System. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole; Junger, Marianne. 1990. Delinquency and Ethnicity: An Investigation on Social Factors Relating to Delinquency Among Moroccan, Turkish, Surinamese and Dutch Boys. Boston: Kluwer; Albrecht, Peter-Alexis. 1987. "Foreign Minorities and the Criminal Justice System in The  Federal Republic of Germany." Howard  Journal 26(4, Nov.):272-82.

[58].  This conclusion will not be accepted by scholars who hold certain conceptions of racism and institutional racism.  For example, building upon more than 30 years of refinements in self reported delinquency methodology Marianne Junger came to three crucial conclusions: (1) the Dutch police did not discriminate in their enforcement of law against the racial /ethnic / immigrant populations; (2) Dutch official statistics on the characteristics of criminals (at least the arrest statistics) were reasonably valid measures; and (3) that the disparities in the official statistics on criminality between whites and minorities in Amsterdam represented real differences among the racial groups. 

            Benjamin Bowling charges her with using an “oversimplified notion of ‘racial bias’ (and racism) and the way in which it might affect policing in the Netherlands.” Bowling, Benjamin. 1990. "Conceptual and Methodological Problems in Measuring 'Race' Differences in Delinquency: A Reply to Marianne Junger." British Journal of Criminology 30:488. He objects to (1) the a priori assumption that ‘race’ has no influence on the production of arrest statistics; and to (2) the reduction of the effects of racial bias in policing to ‘unjust arrest.’  He asserts, “It is reasonable to suggest that racism on an institutional and individual level is “endemic” in Holland as it is in other European countries.”  His evidence for this sweeping indictment is a reference to one book with a chapter on racist incidents and politics in Europe and  a reference to the fact that a Dutch policeman was chosen by an anti-immigration political party to stand for election. 

            Junger’s response is telling.  She writes: “Bowling is rather harsh when he concludes that all the problems he mentions are the result of a ‘deeper theoretical failing.’ I do not fully understand that point.” Junger, Marianne. 1990. Delinquency and Ethnicity: An Investigation on Social Factors Relating to Delinquency Among Moroccan, Turkish, Surinamese and Dutch Boys. Boston: Kluwer.  I suggest that it is not a matter of being “harsh” but rather of operating according to a different definition of “racial bias” as well as a different set of cannons for establishing the truth value of research claims.  Bowling and Junger are not on the same page.

[59].  In several studies intended to determine the number of illegal immigrants in American jails and prisons the INS made a major effort to establish the immigrant status of the offenders.  Yet, substantial proportions went “unknown”.  California. Los Angeles County. Countywide Criminal Justice Coordination Committee. 1990. Criminal  Aliens in the Los Angeles County Jail Population: Final Report. Ad Hoc Subcommitte on Criminal Aliens. Los Angeles, CA.: County of Los Angeles; California. Los Angeles County. Countywide Criminal Justice Coordination Committee. 1992. Impact of Repeat Arrests of Deportable Criminal Aliens in Lost Angeles County: Final Report. July 15. Los Angeles, CA: Author; Texas. Criminal Justice Policy Council. 1995. Criminal Alien Project for the State of Texas. Report to the Interstate Criminal Alien Working Group, Sept. Austin, TX: Author; Pennell, Susan, Christine Curtis, and Jeff Tayman. 1989. The Impact of Illegal Immigration on the Criminal Justice System. San Diego, CA.: San Diego Association of Governments.

[60].  Lynch, James P. and Rita J. Simon. 1999. "A Comparative Assessment of Criminal Involvement Among Immigrants and Natives Across Seven Nations." International Criminal Justice Review 9:9.

[61].  Lynch and Simon argue that since sojourning foreigners are likely to be primarily involved in drug offenses the distortion in crime and incarceration rates by sojourning foreigners would be reduced if drug crimes are not included in rate comparisons.  Lynch, James P. and Rita J. Simon. 1999. "A Comparative Assessment of Criminal Involvement Among Immigrants and Natives Across Seven Nations." International Criminal Justice Review 9:1-17.

[62].  Agozino, Biko. 1996. "Changes in the Social Construct of Criminality Among the Immigrants in the United Kingdom." Pp. 103-31 in Délit d'Immigration/Immigrant Delinquency, edited by S. Palidda. Brussels: European Commission.

[63].  Davis, Ann, Joseph Pereira, and William M. Bukleley. 2002. "Silent Signals: Security Concerns Bring New Focus On Body Language: FBI, Customs Officials Take 'Science' More Seriously; An Experiment at Logan." The Wall Street Journal, Aug. 15, pp. A1, A6; Tedford, Deborah. 1999. "Focus of Federal Docket Shifts: Immigration, Drugs Now 70 Percent of Texas Cases." The Houston Chronicle, Aug. 29, p. 1.

[64]. Until a 2001 Supreme Court decision abolished the policy, foreigners whose countries of origin refused to accept them were held in prison indefinitely.  In 1999 a Dallas Morning News investigation found that about 300 foreigners from more than 30 nations including some people who had never been convicted of a crime in the United States had been imprisoned by the INS for more than three years while the U.S. futilely negotiated for their return.  Thompson, Cheryl W. 2001. "INS to Free 3,400 Ex-Convicts: Ruling Forces Release of Unwanted Foreign Nationals." The Washington Post, July 20, p. A2; Malone, Dan. 1999. "INS Faulted for Secret Detentions." The Dallas Morning News, Dec. 13.

[65].  It has been shown that French courts systematically incarcerate foreigners than nationals for the same offenses.  Comparing the proportion of unsuspended custodial sentences for the most common offenses handed down to French and foreign offenders, Kensey and Tournier found consist bias against foreigners.  For each type of offence the proportion of unsuspended sentences handed down to foreign offenders was higher, often twice as high: possession of drugs (80.1% foreigners vs. 40.8% French); illegal use of drugs (55.8% vs 23.3%); handling stolen goods (46.1% vs. 19.9%); theft (39.7% vs 21.2%); burglary (48.5% vs. 36.7%); robbery (63.5% vs. 57.3%); assault with victim off work for #8 days(29.4% vs. 21.3%); criminal damage (23.7% vs. 12.8%); obstructing a police officer (14.0% vs. 7.8%); issuing a worthless check (7.0% vs. 6.7%); drinking and driving (6.5% vs. 5.9%); abandoning one’s family (6.4% vs 5.4%); hit-and-run (5.6% vs. 4.1%); careless driving leading to injury (1.5% vs. 0.6%).  Kensey, Annie and Pierre Tournier. 1997. French Prison Population Some Features. Paris: Direction de l'Administration Pénitentiaire, Ministère de la Justice.

[66].  In the United States violations of immigration laws are pursued by the INS and the federal criminal justice system.  Convicted immigration violators  are incarcerated in federal prisons.  Foreigners who commit other than immigration violations may be sentenced either to local, state or federal prisons.  In order to compare immigrant versus native incarceration rates, one would need data from federal, state and local penal facilities broken out by citizenship (and excluding immigration violations).

    The only data on foreigners in U.S. state prison populations for the entire country for the past decade is a survey conducted in 1991.  (At that time about 4% of state prisoners –31,300 – were not U.S. citizens.) Beck, Allen, Lawrence Greenfield, Caroline Harlow, Thomas Hester, Louis Jankowski, Tracy Snell, James Stephan, and Danielle Morton. 1993. Survey of State Prison Inmates, 1991. Technical Report No. NCJ-136949. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics.  The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) regularly publishes national surveys of the demographic characteristics of inmates in state and local jails; but citizenship is not included (probably because of the difficulty of obtaining valid information).

     There are indications that immigrants (non-citizens) are have been increasing in numbers and proportions of federal and state criminal justice and prisoner statistics.  A one-time BJS study of non-citizens in the federal criminal system reported increased an average of 15% annually between 1984 and 1994 in the number of noncitizens serving a sentence of imprisonment in a Federal prison – from 4,088 to18,929.  By contrast, the overall Federal prison population increased by an average 10% annually.  Scalia, John. 1996. Noncitizens in the Federal Criminal Justice System, 1984-94. Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, NCJ 160934. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

    Another one-time BJS study reports the number of people prosecuted for immigration offenses in federal courts more than doubled from 1996 through the year 2000 (6,605 defendants in 1996 to 15,613 in 2000  Litras, Marika F.X. and John Scalia. 2002. "Immigration Offenders in the Federal Criminal Justice System, 2000" (08/02 NCJ 191745). Retrieved Aug. 14, 2002. U.S. Department of Justice. Bureau of Justice Statistics (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/iofcjs00.htm).

    The increase in immigration cases among caseloads in federal courts along the border has soared since build up of immigration control assets there from the early 1990s.  Drug and immigration cases accounted for an amazing 70% of criminal prosecutions in the federal courts in Texas in fiscal year 1998.  The included a 9 % increase in the number of drug cases filed and a 58 % increase in the number of immigration cases.  Both are related to immigration as many of the drug cases are small-time drug smugglers caught by the Border Patrol.  Tedford, Deborah. 1999. "Focus of Federal Docket Shifts: Immigration, Drugs Now 70 Percent of Texas Cases." The Houston Chronicle, Aug. 29, p. 1.

   The  New York State Department of Correctional Services reported an 172% increase in the number of foreign-born inmates between April 1, 1985 and December 31, 1991 (from 2,629 to 7,141. As of Dec. 31, 1991 foreign-born inmates made up 12% of the New York State prisoners.   New York. Department of Correctional Services. 1992. The Impact of Foreign-Born Inmates on the New York State Department of Correctional Services: Executive Summary. Prepared by David Clark, Program Planning, Research and Evaluation, April. Albany, N.Y.: Author.

[67].  The Council of Europe which has been collecting information on prison populations since 1983.   The statistics have been published at regular intervals in the Prison Information Bulletin renamed the Penological Information Bulletin in 1992.  The collection system is called the Council of Europe Annual Penal Statistics (SPACE).  Council of Europe. 1999European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics. Retrieved June 18, 2002. European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics (http://www.europeansourcebook.org/esb/); Savona, Ernesto and Silvio Goglio. 1996. "Migration and Crime" (Transcrime Workign Paper #3). Retrieved June 13, 2002 (www.jus.unitn.it/transcrime/papers/wp03.doc).

[68].  I.e. all inmates of penal institutions including prisons, jails and youth correctional facilities regardless of whether the institutions are “closed”, “semi-closed”, or “open” (e.g. work farm).

[69].  In France between 1984 and 1995 the incarceration rate for foreigners grew more rapidly than that for citizens primarily due to the strong growth in the number of foreigners incarcerated for violating French immigration law (Article 19 of the Rule of Nov. 2, 1945 regarding the entry and stay of foreigners in France).  Among French people there was a 29% increase in the number incarcerated whereas among foreigners there was a 48% increase.  Among foreigners who were incarcerated for crimes and misdemeanors other than violating the immigration law, there was a 29% increase–the same as among the French.  However, among foreigners incarcerated for a violation of the immigration law there was a 380%. Tournier, Pierre. 1996. "La Delinquance Des Etrangers en France: Analyse Des Statistiques Penales." Pp. 133-62 in Délit d'Immigration/Immigrant Delinquency, edited by S. Palidda. Brussels: European Commission.

[70].  Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development. 1999. SOPEMI: Trends in International Migration, 1999. Continuous Reporting System on Migration. Paris: Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development.

[71]. The 433% increase in Spain between 1983-91 was due to a change in migration policy resulting in a doubling of detentions of violations of immigration law.  Savona, Ernesto and Silvio Goglio. 1996. "Migration and Crime" (Transcrime Working Paper #3). Retrieved June 13, 2002 (www.jus.unitn.it/transcrime/papers/wp03.doc).

[72].  Savona, Ernesto and Silvio Goglio. 1996. "Migration and Crime" (Transcrime Workign Paper #3). Retrieved June 13, 2002 (www.jus.unitn.it/transcrime/papers/wp03.doc).

[73].  Lynch, James P. and Rita J. Simon. 1999. "A Comparative Assessment of Criminal Involvement Among Immigrants and Natives Across Seven Nations." International Criminal Justice Review 9:1-17.

[74].  They believe ratios mitigate some of the measurement problems.  They do not say how or why this should be so nor estimate the error correction.

[75]. In Canada in 1991 immigrants constituted 33 percent of all those imprisoned for drug offenses, a much higher percentage than their proportion of the population.  In England in 1995, 98 percent of incarcerated immigrants had been convicted of drug offenses.  In France in 1995, 27 percent of incarcerated immigrants compared to 22% of French citizens were incarcerated for drug offenses.  In Germany in 1991, the rate of immigrants incarcerated for drug offenses was 192 per 100,000 compared to 73 per 100,000 for Germans.

      Lynch and Simon believe these elevated rates are due to the inclusion of a higher proportion of foreign  sojourners (carrying drugs)  in the numerator of the incarceration rates than in the numerators of violent, property and other offenses.  Therefore, they suggest that the data for drug offenses distorts the picture of “immigrant” criminality and should not be used to in comparisons between immigrants and natives.  Lynch, James P. and Rita J. Simon. 1999. "A Comparative Assessment of Criminal Involvement Among Immigrants and Natives Across Seven Nations." International Criminal Justice Review 9:11.

[76].  World Values Study Group and Ronald Inglehart. 2000. World Values Survey, 1995-1997 [MRDF]. ICPSR version. Ann Arbor, MI: Institute  for  Social Research [producer]. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political  and Social Research [Distributor].

[77].  European Commission. 1997. "Racism and Xenophobia in Europe" (Eurobarometer 47.1). In Eurobarometer.

[78].  International Social Survey Programme. 1995. "National Identity." In Special Edition for the International Conference on 'Large Scale Data Analysis' at the Zentralarchiv in Cologne, May 25-28, 1999 [MRDF]. www.za.uni-koeln.de/data/en/issp. Bellevue, WA: MicroCase Corporation [producer]. Cologne, Germany: Zentralarchiv für Empirische Sozialforschung, University of Cologne [Distributor].

 

[79].  International Social Survey Programme. 1995. "National Identity." In Special Edition for the International Conference on 'Large Scale Data Analysis' at the Zentralarchiv in Cologne, May 25-28, 1999 [MRDF]. www.za.uni-koeln.de/data/en/issp. Bellevue, WA: MicroCase Corporation [producer]. Cologne, Germany: Zentralarchiv für Empirische Sozialforschung, University of Cologne [Distributor]; Melich, Anna. 1997. Eurobarometer 47.1. Technical Report No. ICPSR 2089. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, Mar.-Ap.

[80].  International Social Survey Programme. 1995. "National Identity." In Special Edition for the International Conference on 'Large Scale Data Analysis' at the Zentralarchiv in Cologne, May 25-28, 1999 [MRDF]. www.za.uni-koeln.de/data/en/issp. Bellevue, WA: MicroCase Corporation [producer]. Cologne, Germany: Zentralarchiv für Empirische Sozialforschung, University of Cologne [Distributor].

[81]. This corresponds to the tabular analysis by Lynch and Simon who found a statistically significant chi-square.  Lynch, James P. and Rita J. Simon. 1999. "A Comparative Assessment of Criminal Involvement Among Immigrants and Natives Across Seven Nations." International Criminal Justice Review 9:1-17.