Working Paper
Why are immigrants' incarceration rates so low? evidence on selective immigration, deterrence, and deportation
Piehl, Anne Morrison; Butcher, Kristin F. (2005)
Much of the concern about immigration adversely affecting crime derives from the fact that immigrants tend to have characteristics in common with native born populations that are disproportionately incarcerated. This perception of a link between immigration and crime led to legislation in the 1990s increasing punishments toward criminal aliens. Despite the widespread perception of a link between immigration and crime, immigrants have much lower institutionalization (incarceration) rates than the native born. More recently arrived immigrants have the lowest comparative incarceration rates, and ...
Working Paper Series , Paper WP-05-19