Immigration in an Era of Mass Reentry: Does Immigrant Concentration Guard Against Serious Recidivism?

• Author: Javier Ramos
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00224278221120673
• Published date: 01 March 2023
• Date: 01 March 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

Immigration in an

Era of Mass Reentry:

Does Immigrant

Concentration Guard

Against Serious

Recidivism?

Javier Ramos

Abstract

Objectives: Determine whether the protective role of immigrant concentra-

tion extends to individuals with prior cr iminal histories such as ex-prison-

ers. Methods: The present study used hierarchical logistic regression to

examine the association between concentrated immigration and serious

recidivism among a cohort of 182,509 ex-inmates nested within 957 zip

codes in Florida. The study also considered whether this relationship is

applicable to inmates from all racial and ethnic backgrounds. Results:

Results indicate that ex-prisoners have a 21 percent lower likelihood of

recidivism when they return to communities with substantial numbers of

foreign-born residents. This effect, however, is stronger for some popula-

tions than others. Conclusions: Immigration serves as a protective feature

for even high-risk populations. While this relationship does differ across

race and ethnicity, no group experienced a crime-enhancing effect when

Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville,

TX, USA

Corresponding Author:

Javier Ramos, 816 17th Street, Huntsville, TX 77340, United States.

Email: jxr248@shsu.edu

Thematic Issue: Centering Race in the Study of Crime and Criminal Justice

Journal of Research in Crime and

Delinquency

2023, Vol. 60(2) 213-254

© The Author(s) 2022

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DOI: 10.1177/00224278221120673

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returning to a community categorized by high immigration. The f‌indings

contribute to the burgeoning literature on immigration and crime by dem-

onstrating that immigrant communities provide ex-prisoners with a pro-

social context that diminishes their risk for serious recidivism.

Keywords

immigration, recidivism, prisoner reentry, multilevel modeling

The belief that immigrants bring crime and violence into this country is f‌irmly

rooted in American public opinion (Martinez and Lee 2000; Rumbaut and

Ewing 2007). This position, however, is not supported by the available scien-

tif‌ic evidence. Rather, a large and growing body of research reveals that immi-

grants are less criminally involved than their native-born peers and that

immigrant concentration is often associated with lower rates of community vio-

lence or yields no effect (Bersani 2014; Ousey and Kubrin 2017; Wolff et al.

2018). Scholars explain these f‌indings by suggesting that immigration reinvig-

orates the social and economic fabric of previously disadvantaged communities,

which in turn, contributes to lower rates of crime (Peterson and Krivo 2010;

Velez 2009). Consistent with this expectation, an emerging body of contextual

(or multilevel) studies reveal that immigrant concentration serves as a buffer

against crime by reducing the likelihood of offending among residents

(Kubrin and Desmond 2015; Morenoff and Astor 2006; Sampson, Morenoff,

and Raudenbush 2005). Even more telling is that the protective role of commu-

nity immigration on individual rates of offending has been shown to extend

across race and ethnicity (Sampson et al. 2005; Wolff et al. 2015; but see

Wright and Rodriguez 2014).

Although research shows that community members exhibit lower odds of

delinquent behavior when they reside in places with more immigrants, what

is not yet known is whether this crime-inhibiting effect also applies to

justice-involved populations. The limited body of evidence on this topic

has primarily focused on juveniles with one study showing that immigrant

concentration discouraged reoffending among a sample of formally adjudi-

cated youth (Wolff et al. 2015). Far more limited, however, is whether immi-

grant communities also affect the subsequent offending patterns of adult

ex-offenders, especially those who were previously incarcerated (see

Tillyer and Vose 2011 for an exception).

The shortage of scholarship investigating the link between immigrant

concentration and prisoner recidivism is noteworthy for several reasons.

214 Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 60(2)

First, evidence documents that ex-prisoners are a particularly high-risk

group with estimates showing that as many as two-thirds are rearrested

and nearly half return to prison to serve another sentence within three

years of their release (Langan and Levin 2002). Furthermore, one conse-

quence of mass incarceration is that there are now nearly three-quarters

of a million prisoners released each year, a phenomenon referred to as

mass reentry (Clear 2007; Kirk 2015; Morenoff and Harding 2014). The

neighborhoods that these inmates return to is not random. Many are concen-

trated within a small number of communities—communities that are often

disproportionately poor, high in crime, and not particularly suitable for

encouraging a pro-social life (Chamberlain and Wallace 2016; Hipp and

Yates 2009).

1

Indeed, empirical scholarship now recognizes that in addition

to one’s individual attributes (e.g., criminal history, race, gender, socioeco-

nomic status), the social conditions present in one’s environment also matter

for predicting recidivism (Kubrin and Stewart 2006; Tillyer and Vose 2011;

Wallace 2015). These studies document that many of the same ecological

characteristics that have been shown to be associated with aggregate rates

of crime and violence in prior research are also relevant for predicting recid-

ivism, including economic disadvantage (Kubrin and Stewart 2006), resi-

dential mobility (Chamberlain and Wallace 2016; Tillyer and Vose 2011),

more ex-prisoners in the community (Chamberlain and Wallace 2016;

Kirk 2015), the level and demand for social services in the area (Hipp,

Petersilia, and Turner 2010; Wallace 2015), and poor labor market condi-

tions (Bellair and Kowalski 2011; Wang et al. 2010). Hence, given the

increasing importance of “place”in recidivism research and the protective

role of immigrant concentration on criminal offending more generally, a

pressing issue among policymakers and scholars alike is, can immigrant

communities provide ex-prisoners with a pro-social context that minimizes

their risk for reoffending?

The present study addresses this question by evaluating whether inmates

have a lower (or null or higher) risk for serious recidivism when they return

to places with greater numbers of foreign-born residents. Using the theoret-

ical framework proposed by the immigration revitalization perspective, this

study argues that immigrant communities can provide returning inmates

with the resources and economic support to confront the challenges associ-

ated with prisoner reentry. This study also considers whether the insulating

role of immigration on crime is invariant across race and ethnicity. While

some studies show that immigrant communities shield all residents from

criminal offending (Sampson et al. 2005; Wolff et al. 2015), others reveal

that this effect disproportionately benef‌its certain groups, such as Latinos

Ramos 215