Immigration and Incarceration: Patterns and Predictors of Imprisonment Among First- and Second-Generation Young Adults

Abstract

In this chapter we aim to examine empirically the role of ethnicity, nativity and generation in relation to crime and imprisonment. Our analysis will be elaborated at two levels: First, at the national level, we will focus on the incarceration rates of young men 18 to 39, comparing differences between the foreign-born and the U.S.-born by national origin and by education, and, among the foreign-born, by length of residence in the United States. Second, at the local level, we will be relying on in-depth data collected by the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (CILS) in San Diego. The decade-long study followed a large sample of first- and second-generation children of immigrants from Mexico, the Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and other countries from Asia and Latin America. Unlike cross-sectional studies which cannot establish cause and effect temporal sequences, the CILS data set permits the identification of factors measured in early adolescence which predict arrest and incarceration outcomes in early adulthood. Most studies on crime and violence use cross sectional data, but understanding patterns of criminal offense over the life course requires panel data on childhood, adolescence, and adulthood experiences.

Keywords: immigration, incarceration, generation, nativity, ethnicity, race, crime, violence, education, young men