The Immigration-Crime Myth: Exploring the Impact of Immigration on Neighbourhood Violence

Abstract

The myth of the criminal immigrant and the criminogenic effects of immigration is deeply embedded in public and political discourses across the globe. The consequences these perceptions are nontrivial. Conservative governments tend to manipulate the public's fear of 'crime prone' immigrants to garner support for restrictive immigration policies, hard-line anti-terrorism strategies and deportation practices. Further, certain groups are likely to be subjected to heightened levels of alienation and discrimination in the community -particularly at times of economic crises and threats to national security. This perceived association is also linked to increased social anxiety in the neighbourhoods where immigrants live. Yet whether immigration actually leads to measurable increases in crime is highly questionable. Together, the findings of these three studies demonstrate that regardless of how immigration is measured (by growth, concentration or segregation) or the ethnic group under consideration (measuring ethnicity by both language and religion) -there is little evidence to suggest immigration is linked to greater violent crime in either city. However, the effect of ethnic diversity on violent crime is more problematic, particularly when comparing across neighbourhoods. Specifically, I find neighbourhoods with greater language and religion diversity encounter more violent crime problems.This points to a breakdown in informal social control in ethnically diverse neighbourhoods.Nevertheless, it is important to recognise that ethnic diversity comprises only a small piece of the overall puzzle when explaining variations in violent crime across place.iv