Punishing Immigrants: Policy, Politics, and Injustice

by Charis E. Kubrin (Editor), Marjorie S. Zatz (Editor), Ramiro Martínez (Editor)

Overview

Arizona’s controversial new immigration bill is just the latest of many steps in the new criminalization of immigrants. While many cite the presumed criminality of illegal aliens as an excuse for ever-harsher immigration policies, it has in fact been well-established that immigrants commit less crime, and in particular less violent crime, than the native-born and that their presence in communities is not associated with higher crime rates. Punishing Immigrants moves beyond debunking the presumed crime and immigration linkage, broadening the focus to encompass issues relevant to law and society, immigration and refugee policy, and victimization, as well as crime. The original essays in this volume uncover and identify the unanticipated and hidden consequences of immigration policies and practices here and abroad at a time when immigration to the U.S. is near an all-time high. Ultimately, Punishing Immigrants illuminates the nuanced and layered realities of immigrants’ lives, describing the varying complexities surrounding immigration, crime, law, and victimization.


Podcast: Susan Bibler Coutin, on the process and effects of deportation —Listen here.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814749029
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	10/15/2012
Series:	New Perspectives in Crime, Deviance, and Law , #15
Pages:	276
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Charis E. Kubrin is Associate Professor of Criminology, Law and Society at the University of California, Irvine and author of many books, including Privileged Places: Race, Residence, and the Structure of Opportunity.

Marjorie S. Zatz is Professor of Justice and Social Inquiry at Arizona State Universityand author of many books, including Images of Color, Images of Crime.

Ramiro Martínez, Jr. is Professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Northeastern Universityand author of Latino Homicide: Immigration, Violence, and Community.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
1. Introduction
Charis E. Kubrin, Marjorie S. Zatz, and Ramiro Martínez, Jr.
2. Panic, Risk, Control
Michael Welch
3. Growing Tensions between Civic Membership and Enforcement in the Devolution of Immigration Control
Doris Marie Provine, Monica Varsanyi, Paul G. Lewis, and Scott H. Decker
4. No Surprises
Kyrsten Sinema
5. Unearthing and Confronting the Social Skeletons of Immigration Status in Our Criminal Justice System
Evelyn H. Cruz
6. The Ruptures of Return: Deportation’s Confounding Effects
M. Kathleen Dingeman-Cerda and Susan Bibler Coutin
7. Race, Land, and Forced Migration in Darfur
Wenona Rymond-Richmond and John Hagan
8. Situating the Immigration and Neighborhood Crime Relationship across Multiple Cities
María B. Vélez and Christopher J. Lyons
9. Immigrant Inclusion and Prospects through Schooling in Italy
Paola Bertolini and Michele Lalla
10. Social Stressors, Special Vulnerabilities, and Violence Victimization among Latino Immigrant Day Laborers in Post-Katrina New Orleans
Alice Cepeda, Nalini Negi, Kathryn Nowotny, James Arango, Charles Kaplan, and Avelardo Valdez
11. Conclusion
Marjorie S. Zatz, Charis E. Kubrin, and Ramiro Martínez, Jr.
About the Contributors
Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Punishing Immigrants compellingly develops a new paradigm for understanding the role that punitive social control plays on marginalized immigrant populations. The authors develop a new paradigm—one that allows us to understand how crime control has become a primary mechanism for regulating immigration and vulnerable immigrant populations. This project brilliantly humanizes the lives of immigrant populations while rigorously addressing structural processes responsible for the breakup of families, the criminalization of children, and the dehumanization of entire populations.”-Victor M. Rios,author of Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys

"Contrary to public opinion, immigrants commit less crime than native-born Americans, yet after 9/11 and in the midst of a stagnant economy, new anti-immigrant laws have emerged that have brutal consequences for unauthorized immigrants and manifold unanticipated consequences for U.S. citizens, particularly Latinos. Punishing Immigrants brings these anticipated and unanticipated consequences to the fore, and vividly illustrates the ‘layered realities’ of immigrants’ lives at a time when social control and immigration is near an all-time high."-Jennifer Lee,co-author of The Diversity Paradox: Immigration and the Color Line in 21st Century America

Editorial Reviews

"Punishing Immigrants compellingly develops a new paradigm for understanding the role that punitive social control plays on marginalized immigrant populations. The authors develop a new paradigm—one that allows us to understand how crime control has become a primary mechanism for regulating immigration and vulnerable immigrant populations. This project brilliantly humanizes the lives of immigrant populations while rigorously addressing structural processes responsible for the breakup of families, the criminalization of children, and the dehumanization of entire populations."

Victor M. Rios

"Contrary to public opinion, immigrants commit less crime than native-born Americans, yet after 9/11 and in the midst of a stagnant economy, new anti-immigrant laws have emerged that have brutal consequences for unauthorized immigrantsand manifold unanticipated consequences for U.S. citizens, particularly Latinos. Punishing Immigrants brings these anticipated and unanticipated consequences to the fore, and vividly illustrates the & layered realities of immigrants lives at a time when social control and immigration is near an all-time high."

Jennifer Lee

"Contrary to public opinion, immigrants commit less crime than native-born Americans, yet after 9/11 and in the midst of a stagnant economy, new anti-immigrant laws have emerged that have brutal consequences for unauthorized immigrants and manifold unanticipated consequences for U.S. citizens, particularly Latinos. Punishing Immigrants brings these anticipated and unanticipated consequences to the fore, and vividly illustrates the ‘layered realities’ of immigrants’ lives at a time when social control and immigration is near an all-time high."-Jennifer Lee,co-author of The Diversity Paradox: Immigration and the Color Line in 21st Century America

“ Punishing Immigrants compellingly develops a new paradigm for understanding the role that punitive social control plays on marginalized immigrant populations. The authors develop a new paradigm—one that allows us to understand how crime control has become a primary mechanism for regulating immigration and vulnerable immigrant populations. This project brilliantly humanizes the lives of immigrant populations while rigorously addressing structural processes responsible for the breakup of families, the criminalization of children, and the dehumanization of entire populations.”-Victor M. Rios,author of Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys

From the Publisher