Understanding the Fear of Crime and Perceived Risk Across Immigrant Generations: Does the Quality of Social Ties Matter?

Publication Date

3-1-2024

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Crime and Delinquency

Volume

70

Issue

3

DOI

10.1177/00111287221113306

First Page

812

Last Page

843

Abstract

The current study examines the relationships between immigration, social ties, and perceptions of safety. We estimated immigrant generation by race/ethnicity interactions to uncover unique patterns across subpopulations of immigrants while controlling for important neighborhood contextual factors. Immigrant generation was negatively associated with feelings of fear. First-generation Asian immigrants reported the greatest level of fear in the sample. High-quality social ties were negatively associated with fear of crime, while the number of social ties was unrelated to fear. Results suggest first-generation immigrants are in a precarious position in society with respect to feeling safe in their neighborhoods. Local officials should seek ways to provide accurate messaging on the threat of victimization in immigrant communities.

Funding Number

2019-R2-CX-0055

Funding Sponsor

National Institute of Justice

Keywords

Fear of crime, immigration, perceived risk, social ties

Department

Justice Studies

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