It is now well documented that the view that immigrants commit more crime than native-born persons is not supported by empirical research. Yet, the knowledge base is limited in our understanding of the criminological frameworks that may distinguish these groups and, in part, lead to divergent offending patterns. We use the legal socialization framework to understand potential differences along with data from the Pathways to Desistance to assess differences in legal socialization perceptions between first-generation immigrants, second-generation immigrants, and native-born serious youthful offenders. Results show that, compared with second-generation and native-born youth, first-generation youth tend to have more positive views toward the law, less cynical attitudes toward the legal system, and report more social costs associated with punishment.
AnwarS.LoughranT. A. (2011). Testing a Bayesian learning theory of deterrence among serious juvenile offenders. Criminology, 49, 667-698.
2.
BersaniB. E. (2014). An examination of first and second generation immigrant offending trajectories. Justice Quarterly, 31, 315-343.
3.
BersaniB. E.LoughranT. P.PiqueroA. R. (2014). Comparing patterns and predictors of immigrant offending among a sample of adjudicated youth. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 43(11), 1914-1933.
4.
BuiH. N. (2009). Parent-child conflicts, school troubles, and differences in delinquency across immigrant generations. Crime & Delinquency, 55, 412-441.
5.
ButcherK. F.PiehlA. M. (2007, July). Why are immigrants’ incarceration rates so low? Evidence on selective immigration, deterrence, and deportation (NBER Working Paper 13229). Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.
6.
CarminesE. G.ZellerR. Z. (1979). Reliability and Validity Assessment. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
7.
ChoiY.HarachiT. W.GillmoreM. R.CatalanoR. F. (2005). Applicability of the social development model to urban ethnic minority youth: Examining the relationship between external constraints, family socialization, and problem behaviors. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 15, 505-534.
8.
CorreiaM. (2010). Determinants of attitudes toward police of Latino immigrants and non-immigrants. Journal of Criminal Justice, 38, 99-107.
9.
DaviesG.FaganJ. (2012). Crime and enforcement in immigrant neighborhoods: Evidence from New York City. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 641, 99-124.
10.
DiPietroS.BursikR. J.Jr. (2012). Studies of the new immigration: The dangers of pan-ethnic classifications. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 641, 247-267.
11.
EisnerM.NivetteA. (2014). Does legitimacy cause crime? A review of the evidence. In TankebeJ.LieblingA. (Eds.), Legitimacy and Criminal Justice: An International Exploration. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
12.
FaganJ.MearesT. (2008). Punishment, deterrence, and social control: The paradox of punishment in minority communities. Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, 6, 173-219.
13.
FaganJ.PiqueroA. R. (2007). Rational choice and developmental influences on recidivism among adolescent felony offenders. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, 4, 715-748.
14.
FaganJ.TylerT. R. (2005). Legal socialization of children and adolescents. Social Justice Research, 18, 217-242.
15.
GottfredsonM. R. (2004). Crime, immigration, and public policy (Report prepared for the Merage Foundation for the American Dream), Newport Beach, CA.
16.
GottfredsonM. R.HirschiT. (1990). A general theory of crime. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
17.
GrasmickH. G.BursikR. J.Jr. (1990). Conscience, significant others, and rational choice: Extending the deterrence model. Law & Society Review, 24, 837-862.
18.
HaganJ.LeviR.DinovitzerR. (2008). The symbolic violence of the crime immigration nexus: Migrant mythologies in the Americas. Criminology & Public Policy, 7, 95-112.
19.
HaganJ.PalloniA. (1999). Immigration and crime in the United States. In SmithJ.EdmonstonB. (Eds.), The immigration debate: Studies on the economic, demographic, and fiscal effects of immigration (pp. 367-387). Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
20.
HarkerK. (2001). Immigrant generation, assimilation, and adolescent psychological well-being. Social Forces, 79, 969-1004.
21.
HarrisK. M. (1999). The health status and risk behaviors of adolescents in immigrant families. In HernandezD. J. (Ed.), Children of immigrants: Health, adjustment, and public assistance (pp. 286-347). Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
22.
JacksonJ.BradfordB.HoughM.MyhillA.QuintonP.TylerT. R. (2012). Why do people comply with the law? Legitimacy and the influence of legal institutions. British Journal of Criminology, 52, 1051-1071.
23.
JenningsW. G.ZgobaK. M.PiqueroA. R.ReingleJ. M. (2013). Offending trajectories among native-born and foreign-born Hispanics to late middle age. Sociological Inquiry, 83, 622-647.
24.
KasinitzP.MollenkopfJ.WatersM. C. (2002). Becoming American/becoming New Yorkers: Immigrant incorporation in a majority minority city. The International Migration Review, 36, 1020-1036.
25.
KirkD. S.MatsudaM. (2011). Legal cynicism, collective efficacy, and the ecology of arrest. Criminology, 49, 443-472.
26.
KirkD. S.PapachristosA. V.FaganJ.TylerT. R. (2012). The paradox of law enforcement in immigrant communities: Does tough immigration enforcement undermine public safety?The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 641, 79-98.
27.
LaubJ. H.SampsonR. J. (2001). Understanding desistance from crime. In TonryM. (Ed.), Crime and justice: A review of research (Vol. 28, pp. 1-69). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
28.
LeeJ. M.SteinbergL.PiqueroA. R. (2010). Ethnic identity and attitudes toward the police among African-American juvenile offenders. Journal of Criminal Justice, 38, 781-789.
29.
LeeJ. M.SteinbergL.PiqueroA. R.KnightG. P. (2011). Identity-linked perceptions of the police among African American juvenile offenders: A developmental perspective. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 40, 23-37.
30.
LeeM. T.MartinezR.Jr. (2009). Immigration reduces crime: An emerging scholarly consensus. In McDonaldW. F. (Ed.), Sociology of crime, law and deviance: Vol. 13. Immigration, crime and justice (pp. 3-16). Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing.
31.
LopezM. H.LivingstonG. (2009). Hispanics and the criminal justice system: Low confidence, high exposure. Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic Center.
32.
LoughranT. A.PiqueroA. R.FaganJ.MulveyE. P. (2012). Differential deterrence: Studying heterogeneity and changes in perceptual deterrence among serious youthful offenders. Crime & Delinquency, 58, 1, 3-27.
33.
LyonsC. J.VelezM. B.SantoroW. A. (2013). Neighborhood immigration, violence, and city-level immigrant political opportunities. American Sociological Review, 78, 604-632.
34.
MacDonaldJ. M.SampsonR. J. (2012). The world in a city: Immigration and America’s changing social fabric. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 641, 6-15.
35.
MartinezR.Jr.StowellJ. I.LeeM. T. (2010). Immigration and crime in an era of transformation: A longitudinal analysis of homicides in San Diego neighborhoods, 1980–2000. Criminology, 48, 797-829.
36.
MenjivarC.BejaranoC. (2004). Latino immigrants’ perceptions of crime and police authorities in Phoenix. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 27, 120-148.
37.
MorenoffJ. D.AstorA. (2006). Immigrant assimilation and crime: Generational differences in youth violence in Chicago. In MartinezR.ValenzuelaA.Jr. (Eds.), Immigration and crime: Race, ethnicity, and violence (pp. 36-63). New York: New York University Press.
38.
MulveyE. P.SteinbergL.FaganJ.CauffmanE.PiqueroA. R.ChassinL.. . . LosoyaS. H. (2004). Theory and research on desistance from antisocial activity among serious adolescent offenders. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 2, 213-236.
39.
NagoshiJ. L.MarsigliaF. F.ParsaiM.CastroF. G. (2011). The moderating effects of ethnic identification on the relationship between parental monitoring and substance use in Mexican heritage adolescents in the Southwest United States. Journal of Community Psychology, 39, 520-533.
40.
OuseyG. C.KubrinC. (2009). Exploring the connection between immigration and violent crime rates in U.S. cities, 1980–2000. Social Problems, 56, 447-473.
41.
PapachristosA. V.MearesT. L.FaganJ. (2012). Why do criminals obey the law? The influence of legitimacy and social networks on active gun offenders. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 102, 397-440.
42.
Pew Research Center. (2013). Second-generation Americans: A portrait of the adult children of immigrants. Washington, DC: Author.
43.
PiqueroA. R.FaganJ.MulveyE. P.SteinbergL.OdgersC. (2005). Developmental trajectories of legal socialization among serious adolescent offenders. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 96, 267-298.
44.
PiqueroA. R.FarringtonD. P.WelshB. C.TremblayR.JenningsW. G. (2009). Effects of early family/parent training programs on antisocial behavior and delinquency. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 5, 830-1200.
45.
PowellD.PerreiraK. M.HarrisK. M. (2010). Trajectories of delinquency from adolescence to adulthood. Youth & Society, 41, 475-502.
46.
ReisigM. D.WolfeS. E.HoltfreterK. (2011). Legal cynicism, legitimacy, and criminal offending: The nonconfounding effect of low self-control. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 38, 1265-1279.
47.
RumbautR. G.EwingW. A. (2007). The myth of immigrant criminality and the paradox of assimilation: Incarceration rates among native and foreign-born men. Washington, DC: Immigration Policy Center.
48.
SampsonR. J. (2008). Rethinking crime and immigration. Contexts, 7, 28-33.
49.
SampsonR. J.BartuschD. J. (1998). Legal cynicism and (subcultural?) tolerance of deviance: The neighborhood context of racial differences. Law & Society Review, 32, 777-804.
50.
SampsonR. J.MorenoffJ. D.RaudenbushS. W. (2005). Social anatomy of racial and ethnic disparities in violence. American Journal of Public Health, 95, 224-232.
51.
SayadA. (2004). The suffering of the immigrant. New York, NY: Wiley.
52.
SchubertC. A.MulveyE. P.SteinbergL.CauffmanE.LosoyaS. H.HeckerT.. . .KnightG. P. (2004). Operational lessons from the Pathways to Desistance project. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 2, 237-255.
53.
SteinbergL. (2014). Adolescence (10th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
54.
SutherlandE. (1924). Principles of criminology. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
55.
ThomasK. J.LoughranT. A.PiqueroA. R. (2013). Do individual characteristics explain variation in sanction risk updating among serious juvenile offenders? Advancing the logic of differential deterrence. Law and Human Behavior, 37, 10-21.
56.
TonryM. (1997). Ethnicity, crime, and immigration. In TonryM. (Ed.), Crime and Justice: Vol. 21. Ethnicity, crime and immigration: Comparative and cross-national perspectives (pp. 1-29). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
57.
TylerT. R. (1990). Why people obey the law. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
58.
TylerT. (1997). Procedural fairness and compliance with the law. Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, 133, 219-240.
59.
TylerT. R. (2003). Procedural justice, legitimacy, and the effective rule of law. In TonryM. (Ed.), Crime and justice: A review of research (Vol. 30, pp. 283-357). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
60.
TylerT. R. (2009). Legitimacy and criminal justice: The benefits of self-regulation. Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, 7, 307-359.
61.
TylerT. R.FaganJ. (2008). Why do people cooperate with the police?Ohio Journal of Criminal Law, 6, 231-275.
62.
TylerT. R.HuY. J. (2002). Trust in the law: Encouraging public cooperation with the police and courts. New York, NY: Russell Sage.
63.
WangX. (2012). Undocumented immigrants as perceived criminal threat: A test of the minority threat perspective. Criminology, 50, 743-776.
64.
WeitzerR. (2013). The puzzling neglect of Hispanic Americans in research on police-citizen relations. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 37(11), 1995-2013.
65.
WilliamsK. R.HawkinsR. (1986). Perceptual research on general deterrence: A critical review. Law & Society Review, 20, 545-572.
66.
WuC.ChaoR. K. (2011). Intergenerational cultural dissonance in parent-adolescent relationships among Chinese and European Americans. Developmental Psychology, 47, 493-508.
67.
ZimringF. E.HawkinsG. (1973). Deterrence: The legal threat in crime control. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
