That simple, statistically backed fact, <\/a>is making the professional life of Charis Kubrin, a criminology professor at UC Irvine, both highly rewarding and potentially dangerous.<\/p>\n The reward side of the deal is this: In June, Kubrin is scheduled to go to Sweden to collect the prestigious Stockholm Prize in Criminology, an award she\u2019s getting specifically because of her long-term work on the intersection of immigration and crime.\u00a0 When the Stockholm Prize in Criminology Foundation announced its choice, late last year, it described Kubrin as a \u201cmyth buster,\u201d saying the data she and colleagues have reported over the past few decades has generated \u201can abundance of evidence disproving claims that immigration generally, let alone universally, raises crime in communities.\u201d<\/p>\n And the potential danger?<\/p>\n That would be a particularly disturbing piece of real hate mail Kubrin received late last year after she was quoted in a news story about immigration and crime. The threat was part of a broader pushback Kubrin has felt as her work has become more public, and as everybody from President Donald Trump to heads of various government agencies have made fact-challenged claims about immigrant crime as a reason for mass deportations.<\/p>\n \u201cImmigrant crime has always been divisive, as a topic, and it\u2019s even more divisive now,\u201d Kubrin said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I\u2019m on an airplane and I\u2019m working on my laptop to write up my next talk, and somebody looks over my shoulder, they want to talk about it. I can tell,\u201d she added. \u201cWhen I tell them what I do, it used to be, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s interesting.\u2019 Now, it\u2019s sometimes a lot of very strong opinions.\u201d<\/p>\n Kubrin isn\u2019t thrilled with the threats. She reported the recent over-the-top missive to the police, and has felt frustration and fear after receiving other, similar messages.<\/p>\n Still, Kubrin says it\u2019s critical to make sure her work, and similar work by other criminologists,\u00a0is publicized and discussed. In addition to writing about her findings (Kubrin is the author or co-writer of at least five books and dozens of scholarly articles), she makes a point of speaking to nearly any group that asks. She\u2019s talked and answered questions in venues as diverse as brand-name universities and local Rotary clubs and at least one senior living home near UCI\u2019s campus. Her audiences have been just as diverse, ranging from people who are sympathetic to immigrants and immigration, and others who believe many or all immigrants should be deported.<\/p>\n Critically, Kubrin says she would share the result of her work on immigration and crime even if the data showed that immigrants committed more crime than native-born people. She\u2019s quick to note some immigrants do commit crimes, sometimes horrific ones, and that studying crime \u2014 who commits it and why \u2014 is important regardless of the criminal\u2019s background.<\/p>\n But she also believes that immigration policy should be based less on anecdotes about individual immigrants committing lurid crimes, and more on research and science and data.<\/p>\n And the data<\/a> on immigrants and crime compiled by Kubrin and many others<\/a> over the past half-century shows, clearly, that immigrants, as a group, commit less crime than nonimmigrants. It\u2019s true of immigrants with permission to live in this country, and it\u2019s true of the 13.7 million or so who live here without the proper paperwork. It\u2019s true in other parts of the world, where immigration has reshaped populations, and it\u2019s been true for many decades.<\/p>\n The difference isn\u2019t trivial, either. The Cato Institute study found that the 2023 incarceration rate for native-born Americans was 1,221 per 100,000, nearly twice the rate for undocumented immigrants (about 613 per 100,000) and roughly four times higher than for legal immigrants (319 per 100,000.)<\/p>\n Kubrin, who was born and raised in Los Angeles, recently answered some questions about immigration and crime. She also talked about perceptions, and misperceptions, of the issue, and the perils she and others are facing as a result of talking about it.<\/p>\n UC Irvine professor of criminology, law and society, Charis Kubrin at UCI in Irvine on Monday, February 23, 2026 is the winner of the 2026 is winner of the Stockholm Prize for her research disproving the myth that immigrants cause more crime in their new country. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n UC Irvine professor of criminology, law and society, Charis Kubrin at UCI in Irvine on Monday, February 23, 2026 is the winner of the 2026 is winner of the Stockholm Prize for her research disproving the myth that immigrants cause more crime in their new country. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n UC Irvine professor of criminology, law and society, Charis Kubrin at UCI in Irvine on Monday, February 23, 2026 is the winner of the 2026 is winner of the Stockholm Prize for her research disproving the myth that immigrants cause more crime in their new country. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n UC Irvine professor of criminology, law and society, Charis Kubrin at UCI in Irvine on Monday, February 23, 2026 is the winner of the 2026 is winner of the Stockholm Prize for her research disproving the myth that immigrants cause more crime in their new country. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n UC Irvine professor of criminology, law and society, Charis Kubrin at UCI in Irvine on Monday, February 23, 2026 is the winner of the 2026 is winner of the Stockholm Prize for her research disproving the myth that immigrants cause more crime in their new country. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n Show Caption<\/p>\n 1 of 5<\/p>\n UC Irvine professor of criminology, law and society, Charis Kubrin at UCI in Irvine on Monday, February 23, 2026 is the winner of the 2026 is winner of the Stockholm Prize for her research disproving the myth that immigrants cause more crime in their new country. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n Expand<\/a> A: \u201cThe findings aren\u2019t surprising, at least not from the perspective of social theory. First, immigrants themselves are not a random cross-section of people; they\u2019re a self-selected group. \u2026 Most are coming here to improve their life chances, usually by getting higher-paying work. That suggests they\u2019re goal-oriented, and that\u2019s not a trait associated with a propensity for criminal behavior.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s also another argument that there are protective effects of living in immigrant enclaves. There are strong ties among residents, extensive social networks, informal social control. \u2026 A lot of those factors play a role as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Q: Most crime data from state and federal agencies don\u2019t include a perpetrator\u2019s immigration status. How have researchers teased out numbers for who is and isn\u2019t committing crime?<\/p>\n A: \u201cIt\u2019s true that a lot of the (crime) data collected often doesn\u2019t differentiate between native-born and foreign-born offenders, or between documented and undocumented. But we can look at crime data in different communities, and compare the numbers with census data (which does include immigration status) for those communities, to determine crime rates by immigrant and nonimmigrant communities. So we use all of it, crime data, census data and regression analysis.<\/p>\n \u201cAlso, people have done work in jurisdictions where crime data and immigration data are both collected. In Texas, for example, (crime researcher) Michael Light has looked at data that shows, unequivocally, that foreign-born people \u2014 including undocumented people \u2014 are less likely to engage in crime.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not guessing.\u201d<\/p>\n Q: This idea isn\u2019t hard to understand. Why do you think so many people argue that immigrants are criminals?<\/p>\n A: \u201cIt\u2019s not just Americans. Resistance to this idea seems to be consistent whenever, and wherever, immigration has been big enough to shape societies.<\/p>\n \u201cAs to why it\u2019s so stubborn right now, I\u2019d say media has a lot to do with it. Some media outlets use individual events, as horrific as they are, to tell a story about the broader group. \u2026 You never see a headline \u2018Native-born American kills again.\u2019 But you do see news coverage of crime that focuses on the perpetrator\u2019s immigration status. That shapes people\u2019s views.\u201d<\/p>\n Q: Is your basic message \u2014 \u201cHey, immigrants are less likely to be criminals than you\u2019ve been told\u201d \u2014 starting to gain traction with the general public?<\/p>\n![\"UC](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/OCR-L-IMMCRIME-0305-04-LO.jpg\"\/)
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\nQ: The data from a lot of different sources shows that immigrants are less inclined to commit crime than native-born folk<\/a>, and that\u2019s true in a lot of cultures and over different eras. Among criminologists who study this, is there a theory for why?<\/p>\n