UC Irvine

Immigrant revitalization has been used to understand the crime reducing benefits of immigrant concentration. Recently, the South, a region described as a one with a distinct appetite for violence and the most violent region in America, has seen dramatic increases in the concentration of immigrants. The Southern Culture of Violence (SCV) Thesis has been used as an explanation for this distinctness. Using negative binomial regression with 1990 and 2000 data from the National Neighborhood Crime Study (NNCS) supplemented with Census data, I examine the impact of immigrant concentration, the change in these concentration levels, and the lagged impact of the former on violent crime rates in the South compared to regions outside of the South. I also examine the effects of immigrant concentration in areas that have had low, average, and high levels of immigration in 1990. I find that immigration has negative effects on violent crime that vary in degree based on the region. I also find some evidence for a lagged effect and stronger effects when focusing on communities with higher levels of immigrant concentration, especially in the South. I discuss how the effect of revitalization may be weakened due to the SCV and the level of receptiveness of immigrants along with other mediating factors. I conclude by suggesting that future studies that more directly examine immigrant feelings of reception, opportunity, and ultimately the cultural conditions in specific regions along with additional studies that more deeply investigates the intersecting roles of immigration, race, crime, and inclusion.