Effect of Growth in Foreign Born Population Share on County Homicide Rates: A Spatial Panel Approach

• NCJ Number: 249180
• Date Published: November 2014
• Length: 23 pages
• Author(s): Matt Ruther
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Statistics; Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored)
• Grant Number(s): 2010-IJ-CX-0003
• Award: Immigrant Concentration and Homicide Mortality: A Spatial and Temporal Analysis of the Effects of Ethnic Enclaves

Annotation

Using US county homicide mortality data and a spatial Durbin panel regression model which accounts for the spatial clustering of homicide deaths and unobserved heterogeneity between counties, this study examined the impact of changes in foreign- born population share on changes in county homicide rates.

Abstract

The study found that increases in the foreign-born population share were associated with reductions in the homicide rate, a process observed most clearly in the South region of the United States. This reduction is largely the result of spillover, the indirect effect of growth in the immigrant population in one county on homicide rates in other counties. (Publisher abstract modified)