PPIC: immigrants commit crimes at lower rate than U.S. citizens

From this:

Immigrants in California are far less likely to land in prison than their U.S.-born counterparts, a finding that defies the perception that immigration and crime are connected, according to a study released Monday.

Foreign-born residents make up 35 percent of the state's overall population, but only 17 percent of the adult prison population, according to the Public Policy Institute of California, which conducted the research.

Noncitizen men from Mexico between the ages of 18 and 40, which the study indicated were more likely to be in the country illegally, were eight times less likely to be in a "correctional setting," the study found...

The PPIC isn't exactly trustworthy, so I'm sure there's something that the study left out especially since it appears to have been designed to show... exactly what it purports to show. From their page (ppic.org/main/publication.asp?i=776):

Such findings suggest that longstanding fears of immigration as a threat to public safety are unjustified.

The authors are Kristin F. Butcher (associate professor of economics at Wellesley College) and Anne Morrison Piehl (associate professor of economics and faculty affiliate in criminal justice at Rutgers University). Hopefully someone will read the actual study and point out whether they've made any interesting errors or omissions.

Immigration2008a · Tue, 02/26/2008 - 08:14 · · Importance: 1

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