An extensive body of research indicates that community levels of crime are either unaffected by levels of immigration or that immigration is associated with lower, not higher, rates of crime. According to the "immigrant revitalization" perspective, the protective effects of immigration are largely indirect, working through neighborhoodlevel processes, such as social networks, social capital, and collective efficacy. However, these mediating effects have received little empirical attention in the immigration-crime literature. Using data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, the current study seeks to extend research on immigration and crime by assessing the mediating effects of neighborhood friendship and kinship ties and collective efficacy in immigration-violence relationships. Similar to previous studies, we find that the total effect of immigrant concentration on homicide and perceptions of violence is null. However, examining the indirect pathways reveals that immigration works in complex ways, with both positive and negative influences on violence that ultimately manifest as a nonsignificant effect. Specifically, immigrant concentration is associated with lower levels of collective efficacy, thereby increasing violence, but it is simultaneously linked to stronger friendship and kinship networks, which in turn reduces violence. Implications of these findings are discussed.
Victimization surveys are measurement tools designed for data gathering that rely on information provided by individuals concerning their criminal victimization experiences, as well as the context and detailed characteristics of these events. The main goal of victimization surveys is to estimate the level and change in criminal victimizations across time, which requires the estimation of annual rates of victimization.
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