Illegal Immigration and Crime in San Diego and El Paso Counties, 1985-1986

This study was conducted to examine whether a rising crime rate in El Paso, Texas and San Diego, California in 1986 could be attributed to, among other factors, the influx of undocumented aliens. Variables include level of involvement of undocumented aliens in serious felony arrests in San Diego and El Paso Counties, the outcome of serious felony arrest cases involving undocumented persons compared to others arrested for similar offenses, the impact of arrests of undocumented aliens on the criminal justice system in terms of workload and cost, the extent that criminal justice agencies coordinate their efforts to apprehend and process undocumented aliens who have committed serious crimes in San Diego and El Paso counties, and how differences in agency objectives impede or enhance coordination. Data are also provided on how many undocumented persons were arrested/convicted for repeat offense in these counties and which type of policies or procedures could be implemented in criminal justice agencies to address the issue of crimes committed by undocumented aliens. Data were collected in the two cities with focus on serious felony offenses. The collection includes sociodemographic characteristics, citizenship status, current arrest, case disposition, and prior criminal history with additional data from San Diego to compute the costs involving undocumented aliens.

本研究旨在考察1986年美国德克萨斯州埃尔帕索与加利福尼亚州圣迭戈的犯罪率攀升现象，是否可归因于非法外籍人士（undocumented aliens）涌入等多重因素。研究涉及的变量包括：圣迭戈县与埃尔帕索县内，非法外籍人士在严重重罪逮捕行动中的参与程度；涉及非法外籍人士的严重重罪逮捕案件，与同类罪名被捕其他人员的案件处置结果对比；非法外籍人士逮捕行为对刑事司法系统在工作量与成本维度上的影响；圣迭戈与埃尔帕索县内，刑事司法机构在抓捕、处置犯有严重罪行的非法外籍人士时的协作覆盖范围；以及各机构的目标差异如何阻碍或促进此类协作。本数据集同时收录了上述两县因累犯被捕/定罪的非法外籍人士人数，以及刑事司法机构可采取哪些政策或程序以应对非法外籍人士犯罪问题的相关信息。研究聚焦于上述两座城市的严重重罪案件，收集的数据涵盖社会人口统计学特征、公民身份状态、当前逮捕情况、案件处置结果与既往犯罪记录；此外还补充了来自圣迭戈的额外数据，用于核算涉及非法外籍人士的相关司法成本。