Disentangling Differences in Homicide Incarceration Rates by Immigration Status: A Comparison in Texas

Abstract

<jats:p> Research addressing the purported relationship between immigration and crime remains popular, but some gaps remain under-explored. One important gap involves disentangling differences in crime and punishment by immigrant status, as measured across different definitions of immigration status and in relation to U.S. natives, at the individual level. Using data from Texas, results show that native-born U.S. citizens are incarcerated for homicide at higher rates than almost all immigrant groups. While the incarceration rate for undocumented immigrants was 24% greater than the rate for all foreign-citizens, this rate was significantly less than that for U.S. citizens. Among the immigrant status classifications available in this study, all were associated with lower incarceration rates for homicide than that of U.S. citizens. </jats:p>

Criminal Careers and Immigration: An Analysis of Offending Over the Life Course Among Homicide Inmates in Texas

“…The analysis presented here of a sample of individuals incarcerated for homicide provides additional evidence to support previous research on differences in rates of offending (Bersani & Piquero, 2017;Bersani et al, 2018) and work showing that rates of incarceration for homicide vary significantly by immigration status (Orrick et al, 2021). Findings here go further to support the idea that differences based on immigration status in rates of previous offending are present, even among our subsample of individuals incarcerated for homicide.…”

“…We do not claim that those who have been confirmed by ICE as foreign citizens are unauthorized; however, it is among this group that estimates of undocumented immigrants are subsequently derived. Using similar data, Orrick et al (2021) reported that approximately two-thirds of the identified foreign citizens in their sample were undocumented, suggesting that many undocumented individuals may be present in our sample. However, this indicator of immigration status is not publicly available from TDCJ at the individual-level.…”

“…The paradox operates contrary to the narrative that immigrants engage in disproportionate amounts of criminal activity. This is seen in macro-level and individual-level studies (e.g., Bersani, 2014;Bersani et al, 2014;Bersani & DiPietro, 2016;Bersani et al, 2018;Craig et al, 2020;Gunadi, 2021;Jennings et al, 2013;Lee & Martínez, 2009;Martínez, 2014;Martínez & Lee, 2000;Orrick et al, 2021;Ousey & Kubrin, 2009, 2018Piquero et al, 2016;Sampson, 2008;Sampson et al, 2005;Vaughn et al, 2014;Wadsworth, 2010).…”

The Noncitizen Penalty in U.S. Federal Courts: Differences in Punishment by Region of Citizenship

“…Yet prior research on citizen-noncitizen disparity in punishment is limited in that it typically examines one race/ethnicity (Ulmer and Parker 2020), noncitizens as one group (Light 2014; Wu and D’Angelo 2014), or only drug offenses (Demuth 2002; Hartley and Armendariz 2011; Iles and Adegun 2018; Logue 2009). Furthermore, in a study that examined homicide offenses in Texas, Orrick et al (2021) found that noncitizens are incarcerated less frequently than U.S. citizens, adding to the uncertainty as to whether there is a noncitizen penalty for all offense types. Although evidence of sentencing disparity between citizens and noncitizens has accumulated in recent years, it is unclear which noncitizen groups are most severely sentenced, and for which offense types.…”