Crime and the Hispanic Paradox: Ethnic and Immigrant Differences in Adolescent Offending

Jeffrey D. Morenoff, University of Michigan
Tamara Johnson, University of Michigan

This paper examines a neglected aspect of the so-called "Hispanic Paradox" - the idea that some Hispanics, particularly first-generation Mexican immigrants, have positive health outcomes despite having high rates of poverty and related socioeconomic risk factors. Thus far, evidence of such a paradox has derived primarily from research on infant and adult mortality and low birth weight. In this paper, we examine whether such a paradox holds for crime as well by examining two waves of data on adolescent cohorts from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods. We examine possible explanations for group differences in offending that pertain to both individual-level factors, such as family structure, parental criminality, and acculturation, and neighborhood-level factors, such as immigrant concentration, collective efficacy, and neighborhood norms.