A new study says immigrants in California are less likely to commit serious crimes than native born residents of the state. KPBS Reporter Amy Isackson has details.
The Public Policy Institute of California study finds that though 35 percent of California's adults are immigrants...immigrants account for just 17 percent of the state's prison population.
The study says U.S. born men between the ages of 18 and 40 are 10 times more likely than immigrants to be in jail or prison.
And further, 18 to 40 year old men from Mexico who are not U.S. citizens are eight times less likely to be in jail than U.S. born men the same age.
Kristen Butcher teaches economics at Wellesley College and co-authored the study.
She says the results suggest U.S. immigration policy deters legal and illegal immigrants from committing crimes.
Butcher: Legal immigrants are screened for illegal activity in their past before they're admitted into the country. And those who are non-citizens, if they are convicted of certain types of crimes, they are subject to deportation. So, that might provide a pretty strong disincentive to engage in criminal activity.
Butcher says it also could be that the kind of person who chooses to immigrate to the U.S. is less likely to commit crime.
The study analyzes data from the California prison system and the state census.
Butcher says many Californian's mistakenly believe immigration pushes crime rates higher.
She says that may be because most immigrants tend to be young men with low levels of education. Those characteristics are associated with higher crime.
However, Butcher says if a major concern is about the threat immigrants pose to public safety.
Butcher: Then these numbers suggest that's not a particularly good reason to be concerned.
In addition, Butcher says her study shows requiring higher educational levels to obtain visas will not improve public safety.
Nor, she says, will spending more money to increase penalties against criminal immigrants because the numbers are already low.
Amy Isackson, KPBS News.
