2. Policing, Justice, and Security in a Diverse Canada: Building an Empirical Evidence Base Lunch Presentation Ramiro Martinez, Jr. Professor of Criminal Justice Florida International University Miami, Florida martinra@fiu.edu 02/25/2008

3. Impetus for conference and book The primary goal of the NCOVR conference and this book was to assemble a diverse group of scholars who would offer new and innovative approaches to the study of ethnicity, immigration status, and crime, or the impact of immigration on violent events and crime. Taken together they all extend this area of knowledge and offer guidance on much- needed future research efforts in this area of social inquiry.

4. Impetus for conference and book-2 They also remind us that criminologists can no longer restrict studies of crime to Whites and Blacks. At the same time immigration researchers can no longer ignore the study of violence or crime. U.S. is increasingly multi-ethnic and immigrant communities are proliferating. The time has come to ask and answer more questions about immigration and crime than have been traditionally posed.

5. Guide Future Research Stereotypes surrounding this issue also need to be examined in light of empirical studies. Most importantly, this book will hopefully guide much needed future scholarly activity in this important area of research.

6. Recommendations Define immigration and crime and ask the contributors to follow those definitions. Ask contributors to the degree possible, they cover the extent of immigrant criminal activity or immigrant victimization. The latter topic - the criminal victimization of immigrants – is an overlooked theme in the social science literature and certainly not an issue central to the public debate on crime. Focus is on offending.

7. More recommendations Yet victimization among this group is an important social problem to explore since, on the one hand it encompasses crime in the U.S., and on the other it helps form the immigrants perception of the criminal justice system. Over time, it also shapes the nature and extent of the immigrant experience with other racial\ethnic group members, and co-ethnics, in new communities as they are incorporated into society.

8. Place the literature in context I highlight current stereotypes about immigrant criminality, and then provide a brief overview of early theoretical and empirical work on the immigration and crime relationship. I then focus on more contemporary work in this area. In the last section, I address the many contributions the current volume makes to the nascent immigration and crime literature.

9. Persistent data problems Most do not examine Haitians, Asian sub-groups (Vietnamese, Chinese, Filipino) or Mexican border-crossers. Even fewer examine nationality so need for additional studies on the topic The persistent problem of examining violence among immigrants were addressed in innovative ways by the contributors. Yet relying on official data limits research in this area.

10. Immigration and violence: Over time Immigrants currently comprise a larger portion of the U.S. population since the early 1900s. One of the most profound and recent demographic transformations across the nation. Immigrants currently number over 33 million (not counting an almost equal number of U.S. born children of immigrants) and now comprise almost 12% of the U.S. population. This percentage falls short of those 100 years ago (about one-third of the population was immigrant or children of immigrants in 1910), but this figure could grow rapidly.

11. Immigration and violence: Over time To be sure, it is not clear that the increasing proportion of new immigrants across time is directly linked to the annual rates of violent crime. What is clear is that the annual percentage of immigrants has more than doubled since 1980 and it has risen at the same time as rates of homicide (per 100,000) and robbery (per 1,000) have both risen sharply and then plummeted. Start by drawing a figure of this type.

13. Immigration and Violence: Spatial Also, it is not clear that the increasing proportion of new immigrants across cities and communities is directly linked to the annual rates of violent crime. What is also clear is that communities where immigrants reside and where they dominate are not always place where homicide are concentrated. Next step is drawing a map of this type.

14. Census tracts with High Latino Population Incident geocoded according to incident address

15. Popular topic Contemporary immigration into the United States is a topic generating media attention and political reactions across the nation. Many immigrants are stereotyped by some as violent criminals and dangerous threats to society intending to wreak havoc in our communities. This book tells a very different story than what we see and hear on cable news shows, political blogs and rhetoric on the floor of Congress. Immigration and Crime makes an important contribution to the study of immigrant participation in crime and the impact of immigration into urban communities.

16. Debunks stereotypes The contributors debunk the criminal immigrant stereotype with solid quantitative and qualitative analysis while avoiding misleading impressions and misinformed anecdotes that fuel the singling out of immigrants in twenty-first century America. The book challenges public opinion and policy concerning immigrant violence and portrays the strength of immigrants and immigrant communities.

17. Cant cover everything The chapters in this book do not cover everything about immigration and violence but they do help us understand the importance of studying the topic. All of the authors are aware of the deep-rooted problems in this research area and have sought to overcome them in many ways. The authors have many voices, differences in perspectives, interpretations, findings, and of course conclusions. Nevertheless, taken together the respective chapters should prompt much additional research.

18. What is next? U.S. is not Canada. Few Tortilla Curtains on the northern border to keep people in upstate New York. Other areas need research but be broad. Studying deportees? Singling out immigrants for victimization. (Hate Crimes)? Gender differences important to examine. (Trafficking, Human Smuggling?). Absorption of youths into society. (Not just gangs).

19. Conclusion Overall, researchers usually argue that fears of immigrant crime are largely unfounded, as immigrants are themselves often the victims of discrimination, stigmatization, and crime. Will this hold in Canada?