Perceptions of Immigrant Criminality: Crime and Social Boundaries

Abstract

Researchers studying the relationship between immigration and crime frequently note the discrepancy between actual rates and public perceptions of criminal behavior by immigrants. Analyzing staff-and reader-generated texts in a local newspaper, we find that this connection is maintained through a conflation of key terms, assumptions of the legal status of immigrants, and a focus on high-profile criminal acts. We argue that the discourse of immigrant criminality has been critical in constructing social boundaries used in recent immigration legislation. Our analysis helps explain why current scholarly findings on immigration and crime have had little influence in changing public opinion.

Apathy and Antipathy: Media Coverage of Restrictive Immigration Legislation and the Maintenance of Symbolic Boundaries

“…Extant research on media coverage of immigrants and immigrant‐ethnic groups such as the Latino community has explicitly and implicitly examined symbolic boundaries surrounding individuals based on their immigration status (Branton and Dunaway , , ; Brown ; Dunaway et al. ; Flores ; McConnell ; McElmurry ; Santa Ana ; Sohoni and Mendez ; Sohoni and Sohoni ; Stewart et al. ; Yukich ).…”

“…This is a meaningful contribution because the media play a role in shaping attitudes and actions toward immigrants (Dunaway et al. ; Padín ; Sohoni and Mendez ; Sohoni and Sohoni ) and immigration policy is among the major sites that produce and shape symbolic boundaries between immigrants and nonimmigrant groups (Gulasekaram and Ramakrishnan ; Hero ; Massey and Sánchez ; Saito ). Second, we analyze coverage of “positive” and “negative” immigration frames—those that criticize and endorse restrictive legislation—and those in between.…”

Marriage and Offending: Examining the Significance of Marriage among the Children of Immigrants

“…Despite public fears and highly politicized claims that immigrants are singularly crime prone, the finding that foreign‐born individuals commit less crime than native‐born Americans has been so well substantiated by the extant research literature that it has reached the status of an “emerging scholarly consensus” (Lee and Martinez ; Sohoni and Sohoni ). An important caveat to this literature, however, is that rates of offending among the second generation (i.e., children of immigrants born in the United States) resemble more closely those of third‐plus‐generation Americans (i.e., children born in the United States to American born parents) (Harris ; Sampson, et al ; Morenoff and Astor ; Bersani ; Bersani, Loughran, and Piquero ).…”

Different Game, Different Frame?: Black Counterdiscourses and Depictions of Immigration in Atlanta's African-American and Mainstream Press

“…Within the mainstream press, criminal justice discourses around immigration focus on the potent stereotype of the immigrant as a criminal (Aguirre, Edgar Rodriguez, and Jennifer ). Chavez (: 47) contends that as part of maintaining white hegemony, the mainstream media promulgate a “Latino threat narrative” with Latinos characterized as highly fertile invaders who are “bent on a reconquest of the U.S. Southwest.” Other studies have also documented how the popular media characterize Latinos as criminals, invaders, or pollutants (Santa Ana ; Cisneros ; Sohoni and Sohoni ). Operating from the dominant racial and social position, mainstream media audiences may see out‐group members generally as inferior and as deleterious to the society—especially insofar as immigrant bodies occupy the social space (Aguirre and Simmers ).…”

“…Southwest." Other studies have also documented how the popular media characterize Latinos as criminals, invaders, or pollutants (Santa Ana 2002;Cisneros 2008;Sohoni and Sohoni 2013). Operating from the dominant racial and social position, mainstream media audiences may see out-group members generally as inferior and as deleterious to the society-especially insofar as immigrant bodies occupy the social space (Aguirre and Simmers 2008).…”