A recent publication by lab directors Kubrin and Hipp tests whether there is a relationship between different types of immigrant mixing and crime. Rather than simply asking about the relationship between the presence of immigrants in neighborhoods and crime, this study looks at mixing among immigrants based on three dimensions: race/ethnicity, country of origin, or language use. The study uses data from neighborhoods across the U.S. with the National Incident Crime Study (NICS), collected by the ILSSC. A particularly notable finding was that higher levels of mixing among immigrants based on country of origin is associated with lower levels of crime in neighborhoods. The paper is now published in the Journal of Research in Crime & Delinquency and can be found here: “Immigration and Crime: The Role of Immigrant Heterogeneity”

The graphs below shows the the relationship between different types of immigrant mixing and violent and property crime in neighborhoods across the U.S.

A recent publication by lab directors Kubrin and Hipp, and alum Iris Luo explores the nonlinear relationship between immigrant concentration and crime. Consistent with much existing research generally finding that the presence of more immigrants in neighborhoods is associated with lower crime rates, this study using data from neighborhoods across the U.S. in the new National Incident Crime Study (NICS) found not only a negative relationship, but that it was nonlinear. One notable finding was that at higher concentrations of immigrants, the robbery rate begins increasing; however, this pattern was not found for any other types of crime. Given the results from earlier research showing that immigrants can be targets for this type of crime given that they are more likely to be carrying cash, the evidence seems to point towards their greater victimization in these circumstances. Additional tests in the paper came to the same conclusion that victimization is what characterizes the unique robbery results. The paper is now published in the British Journal of Criminology and can be found here: “Immigration and Crime: Is the Relationship Nonlinear?”

The graphs below show the difference in results for aggravated assault and robbery, highlighting the likelihood of increased victimization in high immigrant concentration neighborhoods.

Third places like bodegas and barbershops promote community well-being. “Respondents in neighborhoods with more third places report higher levels of interaction with their neighbors and greater cohesion, an effect that is most prominent in low-income neighborhoods.” That was a key result in a paper led by ILSSC alum Seth Williams. He summarizes the results of this research on the Vital City website. Read the article here.

Lab co-director Dr. John R. Hipp has released a new book. In it he notes that a characteristic of many crime incidents is that they happen at a particular spatial location and a point in time. These two simple insights suggest the need for both a spatial and a longitudinal perspective in studying crime events. The spatial question focuses on why crime seems to occur more frequently in some locations than others, and the consequences of this for certain areas of cities, or neighborhoods. The longitudinal component focuses on how crime impacts, and is impacted by, characteristics of the environment. This book looks at where offenders, targets, and guardians might live, and where they might spatially travel throughout the environment, exploring how vibrant neighborhoods are generated, how neighborhoods change, and what determines why some neighborhoods decline over time while others avoid this fate.

—WINNER of the 2023 James Short Senior Scholar Award for best book or paper published, from the Division of Communities and Place in the American Society of Criminology—

Read more about the book from Dr. John R. Hipp here.