Abstract

Research suggests undocumented immigrants are vulnerable to robbery, burglary, and car theft, but studies have focused exclusively on victims’ perspectives rather than those of street offenders. This study draws from in-depth, semi-structured interviews of 25 active street offenders from a major southeastern US city to understand offenders’ perspectives and motivations for deciding whether to target immigrants. Our findings support that some street offenders explicitly select targets based on perceived individual and socio-structural risk factors and the assumption of undocumented status. These include objective and subjective assessments of immigrants’ reliance on cash-intensive employment, fear of deportation, and inability to access formal justice systems. Our interviews with offenders reveal they and their acquaintances rely on mainstream stereotypes of immigrants (documented and undocumented) and of Latinx populations to determine vulnerability, select targets, and to a lesser extent, justify victimization. Our results highlight the unintended consequences of US immigration policies on crime against immigrants.

摘要

研究表明，无证移民很容易遭到抢劫、入室盗窃和汽车盗窃，但研究只关注受害者的观点，而不是街头违法者的观点。本研究对来自美国东南部主要城市的 25 名活跃的街头违法者进行了深入的半结构化访谈，以了解违法者决定是否以移民为目标的观点和动机。我们的研究结果支持一些街头违法者根据感知的个人和社会结构风险因素以及无证身份的假设明确选择目标。这些包括对移民对现金密集型就业的依赖、对被驱逐的恐惧以及无法诉诸正式司法系统的客观和主观评估。我们对罪犯的采访表明，他们和他们的熟人依靠主流对移民（有证件和无证件）和拉丁裔人口的刻板印象来确定脆弱性、选择目标，并在较小程度上为受害辩护。我们的结果突出了美国移民政策对移民犯罪的意外后果。