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There is no clear evidence that having more immigrants equates to more crimes, according to a new study.

Though public opinion and public policy often assume that immigration is closely related to higher rates of crime, a recent study which examined the issue using local and national data over several decades, revealed the social conditions of neighborhoods actually have a more significant effect on homicides than immigrant populations.

"The research settings for immigration histories are different, but we find no clear evidence that immigrant concentration is associated with higher levels of lethal violence," wrote co-authors Ramiro Martinez Jr. and Jacob I. Stowell.

The researchers studied data for individual homicide incidents and census-tract-level homicides in Miami, Florida, and San Antonio, Texas, in the 1980s and 1990s, respectively. These two cases mirror the immigration influx, Latino growth, and homicide decline seen throughout the country since 1980. The authors combed the data from the specific homicide units that allowed them to directly examine drug- and gang-related homicide information.

They also compared the data to national data from the 2000s and found that having more immigrants did not meean higher crime at the national level either.

The findings of the research were clear and unequivocal: more immigrants did not mean more homicide. Location and neighborhood characteristics were actually the most significant influencers of homicide rates.

"Neighborhoods with higher levels of disadvantage experience significantly more homicides, including those that are gang- and drug-related," said the authors. "Residential stability, percentage professional, adult to child ratio, and young male emerges (but the latter two in opposite directions) for total and gang homicide."

The study, titled "Extending Immigration and Crime Studies: National Implications and Local Settings," appears in The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, published by SAGE.

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