A new study by sociologist Tim Wadsworth of the University of Colorado at Boulder carefully evaluates the various factors behind the statistics that show a massive drop in crime during the 1990s at a time when immigration rose dramatically. Newsweek reports that in a peer-reviewed paper in the June issue of Social Science Quarterly, he argues not only that “cities with the largest increases in immigration between 1990 and 2000 experienced the largest decreases in homicide and robbery,” which we knew, but that after considering all explanations, rising immigration “was partially responsible.”
The new FBI compilation showing crime reports down last year is consistent with Wadsworth’s research. Wadsworth tells Newsweek the FBI numbers are “entirely inconsistent with the claims of politicians and the general public sentiment.”
