Profile of Crime, Violence, and Drug Use Among Mexican Immigrants

• NCJ Number: 188083
• Date Published: March 2001
• Length: 17 pages
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)

Annotation

A large field survey of Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans living in urban and rural areas of central California gathered self-reported information about the prevalence of crime, violence, psychiatric disorders, and drug abuse problems, as well as patterns of use of health services.

Abstract

The research took place in 1996. This epidemiological study used a scientifically viable sampling strategy and structured household interviews to gather inform from about 4,000 people between ages 19 and 59 years. The participants were representative of the population from which they came and were low income and disproportionately low education. Results revealed that immigrants had lower rates than Mexican-Americans born in the United States on every indicator of crime, violence, and drug abuse. The criminal behavior profiles for women were distinctive in that their overall rates were much lower than those for men and the rates for immigrant women were negligible. Overall, the results corresponded with other analyses. Findings suggest that the major impact on the criminal justice system is long range in that the problem of delinquency and drug use among Mexican-Americans will vastly increase in magnitude if current trends continue. These statistics on crime and drug abuse can be predicted with a high degree of certainty if major changes in the educational and income structure of Mexican-Americans do not occur. Questions and answers, tables, and 5 reference notes. For the volume in which this article appears, see NCJ-184245