Writing Activity: Review of Literature - Coursework Example

Running Head: TYPE IN ALL CAPS, NO MORE THAN 50 CHARACTERS Illegal Immigrants & Crime Submitted by Goes Here September, 2011 Illegal Immigrants & Crime It has been a common view that immigrants have greater inclination to commit crimes than their local or inhabitant counterparts. The growing literature in this area, though, suggests the exact opposite. Walter Ewing and Ruben Rumbaut (Rumbaut, 2009) state that immigrants have greater propensity to crime than the natives is largely a public view which has been ignited by the media.

Edwin Sutherland (1924, 1934), a popular criminologist stated in the 1920s that the affiliation between illegal immigrants and crime is a mere misapprehension. Even in the present scenario, the situation remains unchanged, since the perception that illegal immigrants are the main source of crimes is guided by public beliefs rather than solid facts and thorough analysis (Stowell, 2010). Ramiro Martinez and Mathew Lee (Nielson, 2009) conducted a thorough reading and analysis of the existing knowledge base in this area, and based on this study they arrived at a conclusion that immigrants, nearly always demonstrate less inclination towards crime than the locals.

Thus, if we believe the existing literature in this area, it can be said that illegal immigrants are less inclined to crimes than the natives. But this answer cannot be believed to be true because still longitudinal research is missing from this area. On the other hand, there exists some literature which supports the fact that illegal immigrants lead to increase in the crime rates. Supporting researches reveal that off late, the immigrant population coming in are less or not educated and hence have lesser chances of getting good employment (Sampson, 2008).

This pushes them to adversities like poverty, lack of resources and they start believing that the chances of being economically abundant are less by rightful means. This leads to tension and annoyance and this is when they resort to illegal and unlawful activities to improve their economic status (Crime, victims). It is also suggested that illegal immigration leads to a huge loss of public funds and affects the susceptible or the weak sections of the society (Research, Statistics & Evaluation, 2011).

Human and drug smuggling is another reason for increase in border crime. Illegal immigrants are less prone to be caught up in offenses, but more likely to be involved in alcohol related crimes. There have been several research limitations in this area. The first research limitation in this area is because of the fact that most research conducted to study the relationship between illegal immigrants and crime are cross-sectional. Such a research aims to analyze this relationship for all the population at a defined time.

What is required is a longitudinal study instead. Such a study ensures that the same set of individuals are observed, analyzed and studied over an extended period of time. A longitudinal research is required because immigration is a process which does not happen all at once. It is a process which takes place over time. But, unfortunately, not much longitudinal research in this area exists. Another limitation is the absence of a large scale research on this area which compasses cross cultural study as well.

This research will aim at studying the longitudinal association between illegal immigrants and crime. Once the research is conducted, it would be possible to measure the truth in all the theoretical explanations existing around this area. This research seeks to understand the effects of illegal immigration on the crime rates on the country border as well as the crime rates in mid of the country. The research will aim at extending the existing literature on the association between illegal immigrants and crime.

This study will measure the alterations in immigration rates and the variations in the crime rates and will derive a connection out of both. Prior to explaining our research design, we will present the existent literature in this field and will give an abstract of what has been concluded from the already existing literature on the connection between illegal immigrants and crime. References Crime, victims. (n.d.). Retrieved August 30, 2011, from Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics: http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/ Nielson, A. L. (2009).

On Immigration and Crime. In R. a. Martinez, Criminal Justice (pp. 31-57). Washington DC: US Department of Justice. Research, Statistics & Evaluation. (2011). Retrieved August 25, 2011, from Bureau of Justice Statistics: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bis/ Rumbaut, R. G. (2009). Immigration and Incarnation: Patterns and Predictors of Imprisonment among First- and Second Generation Young Adults. In R. Tafoya-Estrada, Immigration and Crime : Race, Ethnicity, and Violence (pp. 64-89). NewYork: New York University Press.

Sampson, R. J. (2008). Community Structure and Crime: Testing Social Disorganization Theory. American Journal of Sociology , 774-802. Stowell, J. I. (2010). The Effects of Immigration on Criminal Behaviour. New York: LFB Scholarly Publishing.