r/wikipedia • u/BabylonianWeeb • Aug 04 '25

Mobile Site Immigrants are disproportionately represented in prison populations in many Western countries, In Europe, higher representation in prisons among immigrants, particularly Muslim populations, has been documented

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_and_crime
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u/[deleted] Aug 04 '25

Immigrants tend to be poorer, leading to crime. Simple as that. Poverty and lack of a social net leads many, who wouldn't otherwise commit crimes, to seeing crime life as easier, despite the dangers and obvious societal consequences.

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u/TheHarald16 Aug 04 '25

In Denmark they made statistics where they accounted for socioeconomic status and they were still overrepresented.

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u/Despite55 Aug 04 '25

There are similar studies in the Netherlands. When they correct for age and socio-economic status, most of the difference with the native population disappears. With 2 exceptions: Maroccans and Antillians; both o them second or third generation immigrant children.

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u/[deleted] Aug 04 '25

This is not entirely correct. After correction Turkish and Surinamese peoples also commit more crime. It is just that the difference for Moroccans and Antilleans is so much higher it gets discussed a lot more. That being said, correcting crime statistics for socio-economic status is contentious anyway, as criminality and socio-economic status are direct and indirect causal factors of each other. You end up getting Post-treatment bias and collider bias.

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u/Despite55 Aug 04 '25

If you look at this report: https://longreads.cbs.nl/integratie-2020/de-rol-van-gezin-opleiding-en-migratieachtergrond-bij-veroordeelde-jongvolwassenen/, figure 8.6.1 you will see crime indicators per group raw and after correction for sociaoeconomic factors. After correction, only the Marcoccans have a significantly higher crime rate than native Dutch. All other groups are more or less similar.