Immigration, Collective Efficacy, Social Ties, and Violence: Unpacking the Mediating Mechanisms in Immigration Effects on Neighborhood-Level Violence

• DOI: 10.1177/2153368717690563
• Author: Arelys Madero-Hernandez,Carlos E. Rojas-Gaona,Lauren Copley Sabon,Ben Feldmeyer
• Date: 01 April 2019
• Published date: 01 April 2019
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Immigration, Collective

Efficacy, Social Ties, and

Violence: Unpacking the

Mediating Mechanisms in

Immigration Effects on

Neighborhood-Level Violence

Ben Feldmeyer

1

, Arelys Madero-Hernandez

2

,

Carlos E. Rojas-Gaona

1

and Lauren Copley Sabon

3

Abstract

An extensive body of research indicates that community levels of crime are either

unaffected by levels of immigration or that immigration is associated with lower, not

higher, rates of crime. According to the “immigrant revitalization” perspective, the

protective effects of immigration are largely indirect, working through neighborhood-

level processes, such as social networks, social capital, and collective efficacy.

However, these mediating effects have received little empirical attention in the

immigration–crime literature. Using data from the Project on Human Development in

Chicago Neighborhoods, the current study seeks to extend research on immigration

and crime by assessing the mediating effects of neighborhood friendship and kinship

ties and collective efficacy in immigration–violence relationships. Similar to previous

studies, we find that the total effect of immigrant concentration on homicide and

perceptions of violence is null. However, examining the indirect pathways reveals that

immigration works in complex ways, with both positive and negative influences on

violence that ultimately manifest as a nonsignificant effect. Specifically, immigrant

concentration is associated with lower levels of collective efficacy, thereby increasing

violence, but it is simultaneously linked to stronger friendship and kinship networks,

which in turn reduces violence. Implications of these findings are discussed.

1

School of Criminal Justice, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA

2

Department of Political Science, Criminal Justice, and Organizational Leadership, Northern Kentucky

University, Highland Heights, KY, USA

3

Department of Sociology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA

Corresponding Author:

Ben Feldmeyer, School of Criminal Justice, University of Cincinnati, 660 Teachers-Dyer Complex, P.O. Box

210389, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA.

Email: ben.feldmeyer@uc.edu

Race and Justice

2019, Vol. 9(2) 123-150

ªThe Author(s) 2017

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/2153368717690563

journals.sagepub.com/home/raj

Keywords

immigration, violence, communities and crime, ne ighborhoods, collectiv e efficacy,

mediation

As immigration flows to the United States swelled at the turn of the 21st century, so

too have concerns that immigration could be contributing to greater crime and social

problems in American communities. In response to these growing anxieties, crimin-

ologists have generated a sizable body of empirical research, which indicates that

fears of immigration–crime links are largely unwarranted. Research consistently

shows that immigrants are less likely to be involved in serious crime compared to the

native-born (Bui, 2009; Dinovitzer, Hagan, & Levi, 2009; Hagan & Palloni, 1999).

Likewise, macro-level studies indicate that immigration either has little association

with crime rates or is linked to lower levels of crime, leading scholars to suggest that

immigrant communities may be “some of the safest places around” (Sampson, 2008,

p. 30; see also Feldmeyer, 2009; Martinez, Stowell, & Cancino, 2008; Martinez,

Stowell, & Lee, 2010; Ousey & Kubrin, 2009; Wadsworth, 2010). However, what is

less clear are the mechanisms, processes, and indirect effects at work in these

immigration–crime relationships. What is it about immigrant communities that pro-

tects them from crime and other social problems? After all, immigrant neighborhoods

face severe strains and disadvantages commonly linked to crime. They are often

exposed to extreme levels of poverty and deprivation similar to those seen in some of

the poorest inner-city areas (see Steffensmeier, Ulmer, Feldmeyer, & Harris, 2010;

Velez, 2006). In addition, research has long documented the many daunting strains

and struggles that migrants face as they adjust to the norms, languages, customs, and

rules of their new environments (Alba & Nee, 1997; Martinez & Lee, 2000; Portes &

Rumbaut, 2006). Yet, despite these challenges, immigrant communities tend to have

remarkably low levels of crime, substance use, and physical and mental illness—a

finding which has become known as the “immigrant paradox” (Burchfield & Silver,

2013; Sampson & Bean, 2006; Vaughn, Salas-Wright, DeLisi, & Maynard, 2014;

Vega & Sribney, 2011).

What is it about immigrant communities that creates this paradox? How is it that

immigrant neighborhoods are entrenched with structural disadvantages but insulated

from social ills? Scholars have offered several related explanations for these findings,

which have coalesced into the immigrant revitalization perspective. According to this

perspective, immigration protects communities from social problems like crime by

strengthening local institutions, reinforcing social networks, and especially by fos-

tering social capital and collective efficacy (see reviews in Kubrin & Desmond, 2015;

Martinez et al., 2010; Sampson & Bean, 2006; Velez, 2006). In sum, theory suggests

that the protective effects of immigration are largely indirect, working through

neighborhood networks and structures to reduce social problems.

The immigrant revitalization perspective has been widely embracedand has become

a leading theoretical explanation forthe immigrant paradox and for immigration–crime

124 Race and Justice 9(2)