3.1 The criminal justice system as an assimilation milieu for the  (Page 6/7)

This suggests that immigration today is repeating historically established patterns whereby first generation immigrants have crime rates lower than the general population’s, while the children of immigrants have crime rates higher that the general population’s (Ianni, 1998; Miller&Kleinman, 1985). However, since the pace of immigration has increased since the 1960s, it is possible that changes in the characteristics of immigrants may lead to greater crime involvement. In the absence of more contemporary and comprehensive information, estimates of Hispanic immigrant involvement in the criminal justice system can only be surmised from their social characteristics.

Table 5 compares the age distributions circa 2000 of the total Hispanic population to those of native-born and foreign-born Hispanics, distinguishing the latter between citizens and non-citizens. The table also shows the age distributions of Hispanic crime victims and of defendants charged by the federal government with an immigration offense. The latter are the closest existing approximation to the characteristics of undocumented immigrants. People under age 34 are the key age group to focus on since ages 14 to 34 comprise the most crime-prone ages. Forty-seven percent of the total Hispanic population was under 25 in the year 2000. In contrast, 65% of native-born Hispanics were under 25. Eight percent of foreign-born naturalized citizens were under 25, while 31% of non-citizens were under that age.

Table 5: Age Group Distributions of Hispanic Population Ages 12 and over, According to Citizenship Status; of Federal Defendants Charged with Immigration Offenses; and of Hispanic Violent Crime Victims, 2000.

Figures are for total Civilian Non-Institutional Population * * Includes the 2.2 % figure for Ages 55 to 64. Sources: Total Population: Current Population Survey, March 2000 Supplement. Obtained through Data Ferrett. Native population by age estimated from Total Civilian Population – Total Foreign-born

Foreign- born: Profile of the Foreign-born Population of the U.S., 2000. Table 10.2, p. 27.

Defendants Charged with an Immigration Offense: Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Immigration Offenders in the Federal Criminal Justice System, 2000. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, August 2002.

Crime Victims: Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Hispanic Victims of Violent Crime, 1993-2000” Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, April 2002.

Hispanic immigrants are older than the native-born. Therefore, we would expect more victimization or crime involvement among the latter. Although there is no official information on the age distribution of undocumented immigrants, the age distribution of defendants charged with an immigration offense (our proxy population for undocumented immigrants) is shown to be similar to the age distribution of Hispanic non-citizens. As may be seen from the table, most Hispanic crime victims are young, with one-fourth ages 12 to 17, one-fourth ages 18 to 24, and one-fourth ages 25 to 34. The age distribution of Hispanic victims most closely approximates the age distribution of native-born Hispanics. Given this, and the close equivalence between the age distributions of victims and arrestees, one could surmise that undocumented and legal immigrants have lower crime involvement— as victims or perpetrators—than second generation Hispanics.