Unz debunks the high Hispanic crime rate myth. Though the piece requires a full reading, here's the framework: while incarceration rates suggest that Hispanics are disproportionately criminally inclined, it turns out Hispanics in the U.S. are also disproportionately male, with a median age around 27. Men between the ages of 18 and 29 are the most common criminals regardless of ethnicity. When you correct the statistics for these imbalances, the difference between Latino and white crime rates starts to look a lot smaller.
Unz goes through numerous steps like this to get to the bottom of this problem, looking at crime rates by type of offense, by state and city, and crime rates according to the overall percentage of a city's population that is Hispanic. The conclusion?
The evidence presented here powerfully refutes the widespread popular belief that America’s Hispanics have high crime rates. Instead, their criminality seems to fall near the center of the white national distribution, being somewhat higher than white New Englanders but somewhat lower than white Southerners ... Restrictionists [on immigration] can provide numerous completely legitimate arguments in favor of their position, ranging from economic competition and cultural conflict to national overpopulation and environmental degradation. But they will discredit these by including unsubstantiated claims about crime.(Hat tip: Felix Salmon)
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Heather Horn
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