Drug-Related and Economic Crime Among Unauthorized Latino Immigrant and Other Arrestees in California.

This paper employs 1994-1996 California Drug Use Forecasting (CALDUF) and 1994 Los Angeles County Mexican Immigrant Residency Status Survey (LAC-MIRSS) data to estimate the level and determinants of drug-related and economic crime among unauthorized Latino immigrant and other arrestees in California. Controlling for various potential individual, contextual and geographic determinants, logistic regression results suggest the use of illicit drugs, having entered the United States more recently and residing in a home without paying any rent or mortgage positively-and residing in a home where another is dependent on an illegal substance negatively-influenced being apprehended for a drug-related crime. Although being an unauthorized Latino resident also had no effect on having been arrested for an economic crime, U.S.-born blacks and Latinos as well as non-Latino immigrants were each more likely than non-Latino U.S.-born whites to be arrested, as were younger females. Working full time and depending on another for a place to live diminished the probability. In sum, although illicit drug use augmented the probability of having been arrested for a drugrelated crime, neither this nor unauthorized residency status among Latinos increased the likelihood of being arrested for an economic crime. A concluding section discusses several policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]