Letters to the Editor
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Re: Lynx
quoting you: "The crime is drunk driving and that's what should be punished in accordance with the law."
Actually the crime was illegally entering our country. That should have been punished in accordance with the law. Instead, it wasn't, he wasn't deported, leading to the second crime, which is drunk driving and manslaughter, which NEVER WOULD HAVE HAPPENED if we punished the original crime.
Is everyone in here taking crazy pills?
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As if...
Crime #1 - being the US illegally.
Crime #2 - driving without a license
Crime #3 - driving with no insurance (see crime #2)
Crime #4 - etc.
Do people who come here illegally want to work? Absolutely. But, they have broken a law just be being here. And, they often have to break laws just to survive in our culture. So, it is irresponsible to state that crimes are less likely. Maybe violent crime is less likely, but crime in general is not.
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Civil law...
Coming to the United States without proper documentation is not a crime. Immigration law is civil law.
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Send us the link to the data if it has been published
The professor also follows a pseudo-scientific method while describing his results. As a result, he has created more doubts than he has helped to clear. I would like to see the raw data and draw my own conclusions. I have no problem accepting the facts as long as it is presented a bit more precisely and analytically compared to the current article. Please make sure that you do not talk about the total number of violent crimes, but you talk about the percentage of illegal population showing violent trends. In raw numbers, I am quite sure that 250 million population will commit more crime compared to the 50 million immigrants. As a result, I am also sure that most drunk driving deaths are caused by native, young, white male. I also understand the logic that legal immigrant would not throw away everything they worked for including jumping hoops, waiting for paperwork, standing hours in front of unfriendly consulates in distant parts of the world. I was told by a friend that he is under tremendous pressure from “home” to send money because all the people who made it “big” in America are sporting better houses, thinking of buying cars for their parents etc. As far as I can tell, Professor might be right that this guy (the first generation) would try to really work hard and would not commit any crime anytime soon. Still, professor is guilty of simplistic arguments that I wonder if he would get passing grade in my course. For example, he claimed that in the 90s the immigration was going up and crime rate was going down. This conclusion made no sense to me at all. The crime itself follows a trend that goes up and down. It is a function of so many variables that we cannot and should not try to form a linear equation with one variable such as immigration. This is a travesty of any mathematical logic. How about a study about what makes you break the law for a better life? How about analyzing if neighbors getting rich with the money sent from US making other Mexicans more prone to taking such risks? Also, if we could quantify the level of mistrust that makes people issue threats against the Professor and if creation of a subculture where natives are also equally prone to committing crime is a factor, will improve our understanding regarding a complex issue where any generalization is most probably wrong.
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And if you hadn't been born
Then we wouldn't be subjected to your inane ramblings.
Instead, it wasn't, he wasn't deported, leading to the second crime, which is drunk driving and manslaughter, which NEVER WOULD HAVE HAPPENED if we punished the original crime
You can do chains like this leading back to any number of incidental points. For example, the drunk driving and manslaughter would also never have happened if he hadn't been able to get alcohol that day, or if he hadn't been able to find his car keys or if he'd left the house 5 minutes later or if mankind hadn't evolved in such a way that imbibing alcohol resulted in inebriation.
The crime in question is drunk driving and manslaughter and I'd want the punishment to be the same if an illegal immegrant did it or a legal immegrant or you did it.
In the meantime, lay off the "crazy pills".
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Re anonymous
I thought I pointed out that the racist origins of our current immigration laws don't necessarily bear on current debates. I'd like to thank Rob for pointing out that legally speaking, being undocumented isn't much of a crime. Are you a 'criminal' if you have ever in your life exceeded the speed limit? At core my own feelings are driven by two beliefs that are a bit in conflict: 1) I love immigration. I like the diversity of cities with people (and language, and food, and music, and art) from many different places. Without immigrants, cities would be largely deserted, dull places. Immigrants are a constant flow of new ideas, new cultures, new skills, that have always been the heart of the idea of America. (remember the statue of liberty?) 2) Labor is now in a losing battle with capital. Constant deflationary pressure on wages is a bad thing. The problem, though, is not the cheap laborers, it is the cheap bastards who pay them. Saying that, I know that rectifying labor laws (living wages, etc.) will lead to fewer open jobs for immigrants, and less immigration. But it's still the right thing to do.
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bushwacker00
You're extrapolating from one example to condemn a larger, unconnected group. He didn't say illegal immigrants are less likely to commit crime, he said immigrants are less likely to commit crime.
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professor sampson says
"In particular, first-generation immigrants, that is, people born outside the country, are much less likely to commit violence, in our data about 45 percent less likely than third-generation immigrants. In turn, second-generation immigrants are about a quarter less likely to commit crime than third-generation." ignoring the crucial implication, namely that *third* generation immigrants are far *more* likely to commit crimes, particularly violent ones, then the average american. like what we hear about with LA gangs and CA prisons.