A Theoretical Approach to Migrant Youth and Criminality

Abstract

The relationship between migration and criminality has long been a debated issue in public debates and academic research. Although the public discourse and classical theoreticians usually tend to believe that migrant youths are more criminal than their local counterparts, increasingly higher numbers of studies have shown that migrant groups generally have lower rates of crime and criminality compared to local groups. Due to the recent wave of migration in recent years and the global concern about the effects of this development on the social prosperity of host communities, there has been an increasing need for social scientists to propose more integrative theories on the effects of migration on criminality.

Commitment to family and school, commitment to education, and belief in the law have a complete mediator effect in the positive relationship between migration and criminality. It was seen that the crime rates among first-generation migrant youths were significantly lower than those among later generations of migrant youths. These findings showed that acculturation had negative effects on familial and academic processes, and this influenced criminality. This study presents a comprehensive outlook into basic theoretical explanations of criminality among migrant youths by discussing the topic in the context of criminological theories.