Advisor(s)

Gordana Rabrenovic (1957-)

Contributor(s)

Jack Levin (1941-), Samantha R. Friedman, Jacob I. Stowell (1973-)

Date of Award

2011

Date Accepted

4-2011

Degree Grantor

Northeastern University

Degree Level

Ph.D.

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department or Academic Unit

College of Social Sciences & Humanities, Department of Sociology & Anthropology

Keywords

criminology, crime, hate, biased, immigration, new destination, new gateway, social disorganization, community resource, group threat, victimization

Subject Categories

Sociology, Immigrants - Crime

Disciplines

Sociology

Abstract

In recent years the link between immigration and crime has received renewed interest in academic research and public and political discourse, with the former tending to find little empirical support and the latter continuing to espouse a firm connection. Recent years have also witnessed the expansion of immigration to new destinations far from traditional ports of entry and settlement. Whether the lack of a connection between immigration and crime in traditional areas holds within new destinations warrants sociological attention. Moreover, as immigrants increasingly settle outside of traditional receiving areas, given the negative context of reception, the potential for victimization is an important issue.

This research seeks to provide a broader account of the nature of immigration and crime by examining the potential effects within new settlement destinations and incorporating the issue of immigrant victimization. Competing hypotheses regarding traditional crime, drawn from social disorganization theory and the community resource perspective, are tested within a large sample of cities and towns (n=1,252) and a sub-sample of new destinations (n=573). With respect to victimization, expectations on the occurrence of anti-immigrant hate crime are drawn from group threat theory and tested within a sample of 423 places, and a sub-sample of 173 new destinations. For each, longitudinal data are analyzed for the effect of change over time. Results of the analyses for traditional crime offer stronger support for the community resource perspective and suggest that the lack of a criminogenic effect of immigrant concentration in traditional areas is present in nontraditional ones as well. Results of the analyses for victimization lend limited support to group threat theory, with the surprising finding of a buffering effect of immigrant population growth on hate crime victimization. Analyses call attention to the importance of changing patterns of immigrant settlement. Particularly with regard to victimization, results suggest the need for further analysis to elucidate the unexpected finding of a buffering effect, and perhaps a refinement of group threat theory.

Document Type

Dissertation

Rights Information

copyright 2011

Rights Holder

Vincent A. Ferraro


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