_ Prof. Jonez _ wrote:

> Study finds immigrants commit less California crime

> Tue Feb 26, 2008 4:19pm EST

> SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Immigrants are far less likely than the
> average U.S.-born citizen to commit crime in California, the most
> populous state in the United States, according to a report issued
> late on Monday.
> People born outside the United States make up about 35 percent of
> California's adult population but account for about 17 percent of the
> adult prison population, the report by the Public Policy Institute of
> California showed.
> According to the report's authors the findings suggest that
> long-standing fears of immigration as a threat to public safety are
> unjustified. The report also noted that U.S.-born adult men are
> incarcerated at a rate more than 2 1/2 times greater than that of
> foreign-born men.
> "Our research indicates that limiting immigration, requiring higher
> educational levels to obtain visas, or spending more money to
> increase penalties against criminal immigrants will have little
> impact on public safety," said Kristin Butcher, co-author of the
> report and associate professor of economics at Wellesley College.
>
> The study did not differentiate between documented immigrants and
> illegal immigrants.
>
> The question of what to do about the millions of undocumented workers
> living in the United States has been one of the major issues in the
> U.S. presidential election. Mexico, which accounts for a high
> proportion of illegal immigrants in California, was deeply
> disappointed at the U.S. Congress' failure to pass President George
> W. Bush's overhaul of immigration laws last year.
> When Butcher and her co-author, Anne Morrison Piehl, associate
> professor of economics at Rutgers University, considered all those
> committed to institutions including prison, jails, halfway houses and
> the like, they found an even greater disparity.
>
> Among men 18 to 40, the population most likely to be in institutions
> because of criminal activity, the report found that in California,
> U.S.-born men were institutionalized 10 times more often than
> foreign-born men (4.2 percent vs. 0.42 percent).
>
> Among other findings in the report, non-citizen men from Mexico 18 to
> 40 -- a group disproportionately likely to have entered the United
> States illegally -- are more than eight times less likely than
> U.S.-born men in the same age group to be in a correctional
> institution (0.48 percent vs. 4.2 percent).
> "From a public safety standpoint, there would be little reason to
> further limit immigration, to favor entry by high-skilled immigrants,
> or to increase penalties against criminal immigrants," the report
> said.

>> Study finds immigrants commit less California crime
>
>> Tue Feb 26, 2008 4:19pm EST
>
>> SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Immigrants are far less likely than the
>> average U.S.-born citizen to commit crime in California, the most
>> populous state in the United States, according to a report issued
>> late on Monday.
>> People born outside the United States make up about 35 percent of
>> California's adult population but account for about 17 percent of the
>> adult prison population, the report by the Public Policy Institute of
>> California showed.
>> According to the report's authors the findings suggest that
>> long-standing fears of immigration as a threat to public safety are
>> unjustified. The report also noted that U.S.-born adult men are
>> incarcerated at a rate more than 2 1/2 times greater than that of
>> foreign-born men.
>> "Our research indicates that limiting immigration, requiring higher
>> educational levels to obtain visas, or spending more money to
>> increase penalties against criminal immigrants will have little
>> impact on public safety," said Kristin Butcher, co-author of the
>> report and associate professor of economics at Wellesley College.
>>
>> The study did not differentiate between documented immigrants and
>> illegal immigrants.
>>
>> The question of what to do about the millions of undocumented workers
>> living in the United States has been one of the major issues in the
>> U.S. presidential election. Mexico, which accounts for a high
>> proportion of illegal immigrants in California, was deeply
>> disappointed at the U.S. Congress' failure to pass President George
>> W. Bush's overhaul of immigration laws last year.
>> When Butcher and her co-author, Anne Morrison Piehl, associate
>> professor of economics at Rutgers University, considered all those
>> committed to institutions including prison, jails, halfway houses and
>> the like, they found an even greater disparity.
>>
>> Among men 18 to 40, the population most likely to be in institutions
>> because of criminal activity, the report found that in California,
>> U.S.-born men were institutionalized 10 times more often than
>> foreign-born men (4.2 percent vs. 0.42 percent).
>>
>> Among other findings in the report, non-citizen men from Mexico 18 to
>> 40 -- a group disproportionately likely to have entered the United
>> States illegally -- are more than eight times less likely than
>> U.S.-born men in the same age group to be in a correctional
>> institution (0.48 percent vs. 4.2 percent).
>> "From a public safety standpoint, there would be little reason to
>> further limit immigration, to favor entry by high-skilled immigrants,
>> or to increase penalties against criminal immigrants," the report
>> said.