Immigration and Crime in Spain: Perception vs. Reality
The Perceived Link Between Immigration and Crime
That was a moment of priority attention to the attack at the Atocha station in Madrid on March 11. In September, it was also observed that insecurity, curiously, was placed among immigration in the levels of concern of Spanish citizens. Notice that in August, the Government announced a new process of regularization of immigrants illegally in the country. The offense will remain more or less stable, but the presence or absence of other social events may cause concern for insecurity to rise or fall in the ranking of important issues.
It shows that these feelings are moving from coordinates that are not necessarily the criminal reality, as it is not known by the public through objective data, but interpretations of those that spread through the press and media. The papers have linked the information provided by the media and levels of concern and fear of crime, showing that the moments of least concern for crime are consistent with concern for other issues of interest.
The moments in the year of greatest concern about crime align with campaigns using crime as a topic of debate, and the absence of other important news. It is concluded that levels of concern and fear of crime cannot, in any case, be the argument for carrying out legislative reforms.
Correctors in Official Crime Statistics
To interpret the representation of foreign detainees:
- First, we must break down the arrests of foreign citizens under the Immigration Act. Since 1997, the statistics provided by the Ministry of Interior distinguish between arrests for crimes and illegal stays.
- The second spell to find the actual rate of crime by foreigners is the absence of two comparable groups. The numbers of foreign residents and regular estimates of illegal immigrants in Spain are not sufficient for the purpose of calculating the foreign crime rate since not all aliens detained by the police are legally resident in Spain; moreover, a lot of them do not usually reside in the country.
- In addition, the structural composition of the immigrant population—especially in relation to gender and age—does not make its crime rate comparable with that of the national population, as demographic characteristics of populations being compared are very different. Foreigners, mostly immigrants, are concentrated in higher-risk age groups for crime, while the national population is more dispersed (elderly, children, …).
While we cannot find the actual rate of crime by foreigners in our country to compare it with that of the Spanish, the fact is that in recent years the share of foreign detainees has increased. There have been many criminological theories that have attempted to explain the crime of foreign immigrants.
Factors Supporting the Perceived Relationship
The image of the bias associated with poverty: Although the deviation does not belong to any class or any culture, the stigma often falls especially on certain groups, probably because its form of delinquency—less elaborate and with more visible consequences—causes more alarm. They are the weakest subjects of social structure, including poor immigrants, on which it is easier to define them as scapegoats for the situation perceived (not real) of insecurity.