Immigration Article of the Day: Citizenship and Punishment: The Salience of National Membership in U.S. Criminal Courts by Michael T. Light, Michael Massoglia, Ryan D. King
Citizenship and Punishment: The Salience of National Membership in U.S. Criminal Courts by Michael T. Light (Purdue University), Michael Massoglia (University of Wisconsin – Madison – Department of Sociology), Ryan D. King State University of New York (SUNY) – Sociology October 31, 2014 Criminal Justice, Borders and Citizenship Research Paper
Abstract: When compared to research on the association between immigration and crime, far less attention has been given to the relationship between immigration, citizenship and criminal punishment. As such, several fundamental questions about how noncitizens are sanctioned and whether citizenship is a marker of stratification in U.S. courts remain unanswered. Are citizens treated differently than noncitizens – both legal and undocumented – in United States federal criminal courts? Is the well documented Hispanic-white sentencing disparity confounded by citizenship status? Has the association between citizenship and sentencing remained stable over time? And are punishment disparities contingent on the demographic context of the court? NAnalysis of several years of data from U.S. federal courts indicates that citizenship status is a salient predictor of sentencing outcomes – more powerful than race or ethnicity. Other notable findings include the following: Accounting for citizenship substantially attenuates disparities between whites and Hispanics; the “citizenship effect” on sentencing has grown stronger over time; and the effect is most pronounced in districts with increasing noncitizen populations. The findings suggest that as international migration increases citizenship may be an emerging and powerful axis of sociolegal inequality.
KJ