Criminology is the term generally defined as the scientific study of the causation, correction, and prevention of crime. Criminology may be divided into subcategories namely, penology which is the study of prisons and prison systems, biocriminology which may be defined as the study of the biological aspect of criminal behavior and feminist criminology which is the study of women and crime and/or criminal behavior of women. Immigration may be defined as the action of coming to live permanently in a foreign country. Very often the two are linked as umbrellas to each other, meaning high crime rates are often said to be caused by immigration or as a result of immigration. However, this is not always the case and research has shown this.
Stereotyping…show more content… Because of this reason they often end up in poverty stricken neighborhoods which tend to have high crime rates. Not because they want to be there but because it is what they can afford. Living in these neighborhoods, whether or not they are a part of the problem, immigrants will be drawn into it, basically they are in the wrong place at the wrong time. To support this the text states, “The Chicago data, and similar figures collected in several other cities by the authors and associates, noted that youth crime was concentrated in specific types of areas, regardless of “nativity and nationality.” They also noted that as immigrants or immigrant group members moved out of these areas and into better communities their juvenile crime rates declined. It was not immigrants or blacks per se but the conditions in which they settled that were important for juvenile crime (Jr. & Jr., 2006, p. 7).” Immigrants are often forced to live in these situations and because of this they get blamed for the increase in crime for which they have no control. And of course once they move away from the areas, the crime rates will go down because there are less people to become victims, and less victims to report crimes. A sociological theory which supports this claim is the functionalism theory which basically states everything is a function of something else. So here, being unemployed or working a low income would be a function…show more content… Because many immigrants migrate into other countries illegally, they tend to keep a low profile, or try to stay under the radar. This is so as illegal immigrants stand a chance of getting deported or sent back to their home country if caught by immigration services. Because these immigrants left home in search of better, they try to avoid getting deported and this very often means staying as far away from crime or any form of illegal activities as possible. In his book McDonald speaks of the thesis they came up with to support this claim as well as went on to support it. He stated, “Immigration might actually improve neighborhood social control mechanisms and suppress crime, particularly in the impoverished urban neighborhoods in which immigrants tend to settle (McDonald, 2009, p. 5).” To support this thesis, McDonald went on to point out reasons. His main reason as stated was, “social control would be enhanced by the strong familial and neighborhood institutions that immigrants brought with them (McDonald, 2009, p. 5).” So not only were immigrants afraid of getting sent back home, but they had close family ties which they probably did not want to leave behind. In many countries surrounding the United States, men go out and work while the women stay home and take care of the home and the children. Because of this reason, it would only make sense if immigrant men did legal jobs. Think about it, if these immigrants get into illegal
