Migrant Criminality: Asking The Right Questions

Abstract

This article presents a review of the existing literature on the topic of immigrant criminality, with a particular focus on the methodological challenges and findings of research in this area. The initial studies on immigrant criminality were predominantly conducted through a comparative approach, whereby the crime rates of immigrants were juxtaposed against those of the native population. The objective of these studies was to ascertain whether the crime rates of immigrants are higher than those of the native population. However, the findings of these studies vary depending on the geographical region and period under examination. While studies conducted in the United States indicate that immigrants' crime rates are generally lower than those of the native population, findings in Europe present a more complex picture. The article identifies the challenges inherent in researching immigrant criminality, including the sourcing of reliable data, the issue of discriminatory treatment and the difficulty of quantifying the extent of criminality among migrants. The most significant studies in this field address the factors influencing the increase or decrease of migrants' crime rates by analysing findings from a range of data sources on migrants' crime trends. Furthermore, recent systematic reviews on migrant criminality in Europe also highlight various methodological limitations and the difficulties of international comparisons.