Immigration And Crime Essay

Many theories have been used to explain the connections between immigration and crime as well as patterns of criminal behavior in different immigrant groups and generations. These theories focus on different factors considered important in shaping individual behavior and immigration resettlement experiences.
To begin with, Social structure theories enlighten on how social economic structures can influence economic opportunities in our society, which then could also lay an impact on criminal tendency to a person. According to (author), strain theory, developed by Merton, states that there are certain things or circumstances that could increase the likelihood of a person to commit a crime, these are known as strains or stressor. These strains or stressors create a negative impact to the person’s emotions such as frustration and anger. These types of emotions influence the corrective actions and behaviors of an individual, thus committing a crime is an unavoidable result. Moreover, material success, such as cars,
Social disorganization believes that the primary factor that affects individual’s behavior and action towards criminal tendencies is the location or the neighborhood. Poor locations or neighborhoods, or known as urban areas, can facilitates destruction of community institutions, values, and social control. According to this theory, the presence of poverty, mixed ethnicity overpopulated areas, multicultural growth, and large number of adult criminals inside of the urban areas can lead to diminishing ties between social values and social control that holds a community together. Thus, immigration increases crime because it causes social change and creates social disorganization that makes social control less effective