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Silence of the Innocants: Undocumented Immigrants' Underreporting of Crime and their Victimization

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  • Stefano Comino
  • Giovanni Mastrobuoni
  • Antonio Nicolò

Abstract

Do undocumented migrants underreport crimes to the police in order to avoid deportations? And do criminals exploit such vulnerability? We use victimization surveys around the 1986 immigration amnesty to address two major identification issues: migrants' legal status is endogenous and unobserved. Right after the amnesty, which according to administrative records disproportionately legalized individuals of Hispanic origin, crime victims of Hispanic origin in cities with a large proportion of Hispanic applicants show enormous improvements in reporting behavior. There is some evidence of a reduced victimization following the amnesty, which is coherent with a behavioral crime model that guides our empirical strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefano Comino & Giovanni Mastrobuoni & Antonio Nicolò, 2018. "Silence of the Innocants: Undocumented Immigrants' Underreporting of Crime and their Victimization," Carlo Alberto Notebooks 564, Collegio Carlo Alberto.
    • Handle: RePEc:cca:wpaper:564
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Emanuele Bracco & Luisanna Onnis, 2022. "Immigration, amnesties, and the shadow economy," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(4), pages 1135-1162, October.
    2. Elisa Facchetti, 2024. "Police infrastructure, police performance, and crime: Evidence from austerity cuts," IFS Working Papers W24/16, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    3. Jordan G. Taqi-Eddin, 2024. "Impact Analysis of the Chesa Boudin Administration," Papers 2405.11455, arXiv.org.
    4. Pearson, Thomas, 2024. "The impact of immigration status on crime reporting: Evidence from DACA," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    5. Madina Kurmangaliyeva & Matteo Sostero, 2022. "Walking while Black :Racial Gaps in Hit-and-Run Cases," Working Papers ECARES 2022-08, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    immigration; amnesty; crime reporting; victimization survey.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • K37 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Immigration Law
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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