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How immigration, level of unemployment, and income inequality affect crime in Europe

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Abstract

Research examining the immigration and crime connection has proliferated, stimulating a vigorous debate among academics and politicians alike. Researchers are examining this relationship at both individual and aggregate levels. However, studies continue to provide often contradictory results. Using Eurostat data over 2017–2020 on crime rates, GDP per capita, income inequality, unemployment rates, and immigration in 38 European countries, this study examines the link between crime and immigration in the context of socioeconomic variables. The main goal is to identify and analyze possible relationships between immigration, unemployment, and crime in Europe. The statistical evidence appears in general to support the hypothesis that the level of crime in Europe during the time period under study can be explained by the level of immigration in the context of country-wide sociodemographic factors. Results show that the homicide rate is significantly associated negatively with immigration (r = − 0.15), GDP per capita (r = − 0.41), and positively associated with both unemployment (r=0.22) and income inequality (r=0.34). Sexual violence rate is significantly and positively associated with immigation (r=0.20) and GDP per capita (r=0.71), and negatively associated with unemployment (r=-0.36) and income inequality (r=-0.41). Finally theft has the same associations and directions as that of sexual violence  for all variables, except GDP per capita. The results are discussed in the context of some criminological theories of strain and relative deprivation to suggest policy implications.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available from Eurostat.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the participants of the Immigration and Crime roundtable at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology for their input.

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  1. National Research Council of Italy, Department of Social Science and Humanities, IRCRES-CNR, 10135, Torino, Italy

    Mario Coccia

  2. Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Florida International University, Miami, FL, 33199, USA

    Ellen G. Cohn & Suman Kakar

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Appendix: Countries in the sample

Appendix: Countries in the sample

Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom.

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Coccia, M., Cohn, E.G. & Kakar, S. How immigration, level of unemployment, and income inequality affect crime in Europe. Crime Law Soc Change (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-024-10144-y

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