Jorge M. Chavez

Race and the Response of State Legislatures to Unauthorized Immigrants

Increasingly, state legislatures are enacting laws to regulate immigrant populations. What accounts for these responses to foreign-born residents? To explain legislative activity at the state level, the authors examine a variety of factors, including the size and growth of foreign-born and Hispanic local populations, economic well-being, crime rates, and conservative or liberal political ideology in state government and among the citizenry. The authors find that economic indicators, crime rates, and demographic changes have little explanatory value for legislation aimed at restrictions on immigrant populations. Rather, conservative citizen ideology appears to drive immigrant-related restrictionist state legislation. Meanwhile, proimmigrant laws are associated with larger Hispanic concentrations, growing foreign-born populations, and more liberal citizen and governmental orientations. These findings suggest that ideological framing is the most consistently important factor determining legislative responses to newcomers. These findings are in line with the relatively scarce empirical literature on legislative tendencies associated with vulnerable populations.

Paternal incarceration and trajectories of marijuana and other illegal drug use from adolescence into young adulthood: evidence from longitudinal panels of males and females in the United States

AIMS One-eighth of young adults in the United States report that their biological father has ever been incarcerated (FEI). This study is the first to examine associations between FEI and trajectories of substance use during the transition from adolescence into young adulthood for the US population. DESIGN Using multi-level modeling techniques, trajectories of marijuana and other illegal drug use are examined, with FEI as the primary independent variable. SETTING Data are from the first three waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a nationally representative sample of US adolescents beginning in 1995. PARTICIPANTS Panels of 7157 males and 7997 females followed from adolescence (7th-12th grades) into early adulthood (ages 18-27 years). MEASUREMENTS Dependent variables included an ordinal measure of marijuana frequency of use in last thirty days, and a dichotomous measure for whether respondent had any use in the last thirty days of illegal drugs such crystal meth, cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, PCP, LSD, speed, and ecstasy. FINDINGS Among males and females, respectively, FEI is associated with an increased frequency of marijuana use, and increased odds of any other illegal drug use. Interactions between FEI and age further reveal that FEI is associated with an accentuated trajectory (i.e. a steeper slope) of marijuana use, and an elevated risk (i.e. higher mean level) of other illegal drug use. CONCLUSIONS Analysis provides some of the first evidence that paternal incarceration is significantly associated with drug use among U.S. males and females, even after controlling for a number of family background, parental, and individual characteristics.

Neighborhood Dynamics of Urban Violence: Understanding the Immigration Connection

Social disorganization is the dominant framework linking neighborhood patterns of immigration to local rates of crime and violence despite inconsistent findings and evidence to the contrary. Using tract-level census data from 1970 to 1990 and Chicago homicide data from 1980 to 1995, this study explores whether and how the changing face of immigration is (un)related to homicide patterns within the contemporary urban environment. The results show that stable and consistent growth in foreign born is not associated with neighborhood trends in violence, whereas growth in recent arrivals occurs almost exclusively within the safest neighborhoods of the city. This research highlights the need to distinguish recent waves of immigrants/migrants from their historic counterparts.

Sufren Los Niños: Exploring the Impact of Unauthorized Immigration Status on Children's Well‐Being

The present study examines the effect of unauthorized immigration status on child well-being at a time of elevated immigration rates, economic decline, and unprecedented local lawmaking related to immigration. Immigrant families today are likely to differ from those of the past in that they are more likely to be from Latin America or the Caribbean and include unprecedented numbers of unauthorized immigrants. In addition, they are settling in destinations that have not historically had immigrant populations. The present study draws on interviews with 40 families from an emerging immigrant destination in north central Indiana to help illuminate the ways in which unauthorized immigration status influences child well-being. Results illustrate that unauthorized status extends beyond the individual to families and that mixed-status family situations create unique challenges for these families. More specifically, these results show the ways in which unauthorized immigrant status may impact family stress and uncertainty, health outcomes, and educational attainment and may result in increased social isolation for children in immigrant families.

Guilt by Association: The Relationship between Deviant Peers and Deviant Labels

This study broadens labeling theory by examining the role deviant peers play in earlier stages of the labeling process. We propose that deviant peers serve as a source of information used in the decision to apply a deviant label by parents and school authorities. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health with cross-sectional (n = 12,011) and longitudinal (n = 9,267) samples, results show that higher levels of peer deviance are related to receiving both informal and formal labels. We also find that associating with deviant peers amplifies the effect of individual deviance on receiving an informal label.

Collateral Consequences: The Impact of Local Immigration Policies on Latino Immigrant Families in North Central Indiana

Concern over immigration has culminated in unprecedented legislative action at the local level, in particular state level legislation has begun to increasingly target immigrants and penalize immigration violations (Chavez and Provine, The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 623:78–92, 2009; Hegen, State legislation related to immigrants and immigration: January 1–June 30, 2008). The present study examines the effect of state level immigration legislation on immigrant Latino families at a time of high immigration, when immigrants are settling into locations which have not historically had immigrant populations, and during an extended economic recession (Mather, Children in immigrant families chart new path: Reports on America, 2009; US Bureau of Economic Analysis, Economic downturn widespread among states in 2009: Advanced 2009 and revised 1963–2008 GDP-By-state statistics, 2010; US Department of Homeland Security, Secretary Napolitano announces deferred action process for young people who are low enforcement priorities, 2012). Immigrant families today are likely to differ from those of the past in that they are more likely to be from Latin America or the Caribbean and include unprecedented numbers of unauthorized immigrants (Passel and Cohn, Unauthorized immigrant population: National and state trends, 2010, 2011; US Department of Homeland Security, Secretary Napolitano announces deferred action process for young people who are low enforcement priorities, 2012). The present study draws on interviews with 40 families from an emerging immigrant destination in North Central Indiana to help illuminate the ways in which local legislation and enforcement impacts immigrant Latino families. Results illustrate how state level immigration legislation can create barriers and challenges for immigrant Latino families, with authorized and unauthorized status alike. This study also finds that many immigrant Latino families are “mixed status families,” where a family consists of both authorized and unauthorized immigrant status family members, and thus share the plight of unauthorized family members. Due to this “mixed status family” status, many families experience the collateral consequences of state level legislation, including family stress and uncertainty in the form of family level “liminal legality,” escalated intergenerational tension, and increased social isolation.

Parenthood Residency Status and Criminal Desistance across Neighborhood Contexts

ABSTRACT Research on desistance and parenthood has yielded mixed results bringing into question whether, and for whom, parenthood matters. Scholarship has not fully explored the importance of residency status or patterns of desistance across a full range of neighborhood contexts, nor examined distinctions between temporary and long-term desistance. Our study uses data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) to examine the association between parenthood residence and criminal desistance across levels of adolescent neighborhood poverty. Our findings demonstrate that parenthood has different meanings for desistance, depending on its duration, residency status, and neighborhood context.

Latinidad and Vernacular Discourse: Arts Activism in Toledo's Old South End

This article examines the activism of Toledo area Latina/o artists as vernacular discourse. Artists attempt to reimagine the borders of Old South End by creating public art and advancing critical awareness with community members.

Social Class, Family Formation, and Delinquency in Early Adulthood

Recent research suggests increasing heterogeneity in the transition from adolescence to early adulthood. This study considers how this heterogeneity may influence delinquency between these two developmental periods. We focus on the role of family transitions, educational attainment, and employment in predicting risk of nonviolent delinquency and substance use, as well as disparities in transitions across socioeconomic status subgroups. Data are from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). We find that family and neighborhood advantage are negatively associated with transitions into marriage, cohabitation, and parenthood, yet positively associated with educational attainment. In addition, adolescent family and neighborhood advantage are associated with a continuation of delinquent behavior and substance use during early adulthood. In multivariate analyses, accounting for family transitions in early adulthood largely attenuates the relationship between neighborhood advantage in adolescence and delinquency in early adulthood. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for developmental criminology.

Whose Statement Is It? An Examination of Victim Impact Statements Delivered in Court

Abstract Many crime victims today have the opportunity to create, and in some contexts deliver, a victim impact statement in court. While research has examined the effects of this participation on outcomes like sentencing, very little is known about the content of these statements or if the content is influenced by the context in which it is shared (i.e., the courtroom). Using trial transcripts and interviews with criminal justice officials and family members of homicide victims, the current study examines the stories victims share as well as the influence justice system actors have in their creation and delivery.