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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 12:09 am
Time: 12:09 am
Results for marriage and crime
1 results foundAuthor: Bersani, Bianca E. Title: An Examination of the "Marriage Effect" on Desistance from Crime among U.S. Immigrants Summary: Interest in the relationship between immigration and crime has a long history in the United States. Since the late 19th and early 20th centuries much anxiety has been levied at the social ills associated with immigrants, and in particular, the criminal element they may bring with them (see, for example, Immigration Commission 1911). Despite these concerns, research spanning more than a century has revealed that the stereotype of the "criminal immigrant" is a myth (Hagan and Palloni 1999; Rumbaut and Ewing 2007) and that the foreign-born (e.g., first generation immigrants) are involved in significantly less crime than their native-born peers (Lee and Martinez 2009; Sampson and Laub 2005; Zhou and Bankston 2006). At the same time, however, research also demonstrates increasing rates of crime among the children of immigrants, (e.g., the second generation) (Bersani 2012; Morenoff and Astor 2006). As the second generation immigrant population continues to grow attention has shifted to understanding the reasons for the dramatic increase in offending among the children of immigrants as well as the factors that insulate the first generation from crime. Alongside this shift in research attention, a related body of work posits a declining significance of marriage among the second and later generations (Oropesa and Landale 2004). This decline is noteworthy for two reasons: First, research on immigration and crime often identifies the family as an important protective factor among first generation immigrants (Suarez-Orozco and Suarez-Orozco 2001; Zhou 1997), suggesting that "immigrant families may have an advantage because they are more likely to bond together and establish social ties and cooperative kin-based economic and childrearing practices" (MacDonald and Saunders 2012: 132). Second, the benefits of family bonds, and marriage in particular, for fostering desistance from crime have been well established in previous research (Laub and Sampson 2003; Sampson and Laub 1993). Thus, a decline in marriage among later generations holds the power to influence patterns of criminality among the children of immigrants. The aim of this research is to merge separate but related bodies of work by integrating research on immigration, marriage and family, and crime to shed light on the factors that shape patterns of criminal offending among the children of immigrants as they transition to young adulthood. This research addresses three core questions: 1) are second generation immigrants (defined as individuals born in the U.S. with at least one foreign-born parent) entering into marriage at a slower pace than their first generation immigrant (defined as those born outside the U.S. with foreign-born parents) peers?; 2) what role does marriage play in understanding immigrant offending?; and 3) is the relationship between marriage and offending conditioned by immigrant generational status and/or country/region of birth (i.e., nativity)? To situate these findings in the larger body of research, we also examine a sample of native-born youth, disaggregated by race and ethnicity, for comparison purposes. Our findings reveal important similarities and differences between immigrant generations with respect to patterns of marriage and offending. First, counter to expectations of a "retreat" from marriage (i.e., a declining rate), we find that second generation immigrants marry at rates comparable to their White, Hispanic, and first generation immigrant peers. Second, consistent with previous research, we find that marriage is negatively related to crime for both first and second generation immigrants. However, this "marriage effect" is particularly strong the second generation. Details: Unpublished report to the U.S. National Institute of Justice, 2013. 81p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 8, 2013 at: https://ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/242326.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: https://ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/242326.pdf Shelf Number: 129583 Keywords: DesistanceImmigrants and Crime (U.S.)Marriage and Crime |