On Crime, Immigrants Become More Like Americans

quicklist: curated
quote: “Studies have documented how second-generation immigrants have become more like the typical American, both in positive and negative ways.”
their: Pew Research Center
their_title: Crime rises among second-generation immigrant as they assimilate
their_url: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/10/15/crime-rises-among-second-generation-immigrants-as-they-assimilate/
their_copy: Why does the crime rate soar among second-generation immigrants compared with their foreign-born peers? Until recently, most sociologists have explained this increase by noting that many second-generation immigrants feel caught between two conflicting worlds—the old world of their parents and the new world of their birth.

But recently researchers have posited an alternate theory: Second-generation immigrants are just “catching up” with the rest of us, claims Bianca E. Bersani, a sociologist at the University of Massachusetts-Boston.
theirCTA: Read more here.
our_copy: There’s growing evidence that immigrant crime rates grow in the second generation, not because of their immigrant upbringing, but because they are adapting to the behavior of their American peers.

Such a finding could have an impact on the debate over immigration reform in Washington. Opponents of reform often cite criminal acts by undocumented immigrants as a reason to pass more restrictive policies. This data does not specifically focus on the undocumented population, but there is evidence that higher crime rates are not a consequence of “the immigrant experience.”

Jordan Fabian is Fusion’s politics editor, writing about campaigns, Congress, immigration, and more. When he’s not working, you can find him at the ice rink or at home with his wife, Melissa.