Crime, Punishment, and Undocumented Aliens
Client
Semester
Human Rights Watch tasked the Capstone team to identify whether there is a lower rate of reporting of crimes by immigrant victims or witnesses in communities where law enforcement officers are authorized as per a 287(g) agreement to identify, process and detain immigration offenders. The Capstone team explored this issue by conducting an original quantitative and qualitative longitudinal study of crime reporting in two counties that have formalized a 287(g) agreement. Gathering and analyzing two counties’ crime reporting data, alongside a set of salient demographic and economic variables, allowed the team to asses the impact of 287(g) on crime reporting across different geographies and ethnographies. The team supported their original analysis with a review of the research literature on immigration and crime reporting.