Defining the factors that protect or propel immigrant youth to delinquency and criminal behavior

Authors Hsieh and Shih reused data from the NAHDAP study, Research on Pathways to Desistance (2000–2010), which tracked a panel of juvenile offenders in Maricopa County, AZ, and Philadelphia County, PA, for seven years as they transitioned to adulthood. Hsieh and Shih analyzed the baseline data, collected when participants were aged 14–17, to examine how immigration status, identity, and neighborhood factors influenced criminal behavior. They found that a strong ethnic identity had a protective effect for immigrant youth when it came to substance abuse, an effect less pronounced for native-born youth. However, living in neighborhoods with gangs, violence, or even just disorder, increased substance abuse and violent crime risks for both groups, often undermining the protective effects of strong family and cultural ties for immigrant youth. See links to hundreds more publications in which data from this study were used, including to explore other issues around immigration and crime.