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Immigrant assimilation into US prisons, 1900–1930

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  • Carolyn Moehling
  • Anne Piehl

Abstract

The analysis of a new dataset on state prisoners in the 1900 to 1930 censuses reveals that immigrants rapidly assimilated to native incarceration patterns. One feature of these data is that the second generation can be identified, allowing direct analysis of this group and allowing their exclusion from calculations of comparison rates for the “native” population. Although adult new arrivals were less likely than natives to be incarcerated, this likelihood was increasing with their years in the USA. The foreign born who arrived as children and second-generation immigrants had slightly higher rates of incarceration than natives of native parentage, but these differences disappear after controlling for nativity differences in urbanicity and occupational status. Finally, while the incarceration rates of new arrivals differ significantly by source country, patterns of assimilation are very similar. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Carolyn Moehling & Anne Piehl, 2014. "Immigrant assimilation into US prisons, 1900–1930," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 27(1), pages 173-200, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:27:y:2014:i:1:p:173-200
    DOI: 10.1007/s00148-013-0476-6
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    Cited by:

    1. Luca Nunziata, 2015. "Immigration and crime: evidence from victimization data," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 28(3), pages 697-736, July.
    2. Monica Langella & Alan Manning, 2019. "Diversity and Neighbourhood Satisfaction," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 129(624), pages 3219-3255.
    3. Pia M. Orrenius & Madeline Zavodny, 2019. "Do Immigrants Threaten U.S. Public Safety?," Working Papers 1905, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
    4. Ran Abramitzky & Leah Boustan, 2017. "Immigration in American Economic History," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(4), pages 1311-1345, December.
    5. Timothy J. Hatton & Zachary Ward, 2024. "International Migration in the Atlantic Economy 1850–1940," Springer Books, in: Claude Diebolt & Michael Haupert (ed.), Handbook of Cliometrics, edition 3, pages 507-535, Springer.
    6. Katherine Eriksson, 2015. "Access to Schooling and the Black-White Incarceration Gap in the Early 20th Century US South: Evidence from Rosenwald Schools," NBER Working Papers 21727, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Eriksson, Katherine, 2019. "Moving North and into jail? The great migration and black incarceration," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 526-538.
    8. Catia Batista & Ana Beatriz Gomes, 2022. "Healthcare assimilation of immigrants," NOVAFRICA Working Paper Series wp2208, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Nova School of Business and Economics, NOVAFRICA.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Immigration; Assimilation; Incarceration; Crime; J15; N32; K42;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • N32 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • F - International Economics

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