Opinion

Migrant crime rates

Australia has many citizens and visitors who were born in another country, a relatively recent state of affairs and one that has added more to our lives than young people could imagine. We are a mix of nationalities, ethnicities and cultures, and when we talk positively we are free to talk of differences. On the other hand, it is frowned upon, it seems, to talk of differences when the subject may be deemed to be negative.

Some people will frown upon my blog and Herald column today as negative and improper. That's because I have used two Australian Bureau of Statistics reports to assess the rate of serious crime of Australians according to their country of birth. I decided to do this when I was surprised to learn that the Australian Institute of Criminology does not keep country-of-birth crime statistics for Australia. The two ABS reports I've used are Prisoners in Australia 2008, giving prisoner numbers by country of birth, and the 2006 Census, which has population by country of birth.

And I can tell you that we should give Italians first dibs on our annual migrant intake! They top the list of 30 nationalities as the most upstanding Australians, as the least likely to be jailed for serious crime, and they are a long way, almost 20 per cent, in front of the runners-up, Indians. The jailing rate of Australians of Italian birth was one for every 2620 and of Indians one for every 2195. There followed the Dutch (2192), South Africans (1964), Greeks (1896), Germans (1868), people from the UK (1632), Sri Lankans (1596) and people from the Philippines (1545).

Quirks, if they can be called that, include the Italians having a relatively high rate of drug crime (and no robberies), Indians relatively high murder rate, Dutch high sex assault and no robberies, South Africans high drug offences, Germans high sex assault, people from the UK low drug offences, Sri Lankans high sex assault and people from the Philippines very low sex offences.

The list of 30 countries of birth is to be completed tomorrow. The remaining countries include Vietnam, Sudan, Thailand, the old Yugoslavia, Tonga, Canada, the US, Samoa, New Zealand and Australia. And not in that order.

The official absence of statistics for crime by country of birth suggests that this information has no role in determining the mix of Australia's immigration. Should it?

Posted By: Jeff Corbett on 27/07/2009 6:09:00 PM | Comments (43)

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Date: Newest first | Oldest first

What about the percentage of indians that work in 7-11s, 50% i would say!

Posted by Redemption, 28/07/2009 10:11:54 AM, on The Herald

Working is not a crime.

Posted by Jeff Corbett on 28/07/2009 10:59:25 AM

Jeff, the lack of statistics of Criminals by Country of Birth is purely for the government to save face and not have any records showing their Imigration policy is not in the best interests of this nation. The government can not get it right 100% of the time, but the imigration checks need to be more stringent. This is a good follow on from yesterdays blog actually because we have allowed into this country people with criminal records and also people with known links to so called terrorist organisations such as the Tamil Tigers, Hezbollah, and the Sudan Rebels. I am sure there are more. I do understand that the growth of this country is reliant on imigration, but we need to pick and choose more, and be alot harsher on previous criminal activity (ie, have a criminal record, automatically not permitted in this country) or known links to rebel or terrorist organisations.

Posted by Nafe, 28/07/2009 10:24:50 AM, on The Herald

Statistics around crime by country of birth are irrelevant and would only serve to support stereotypes. It's all about the individual circumstances and record of each applicant - not about where they're from. Statistically, Australians are probably seen as a lot of drunks - but it doesn't mean that each individual Australian is a drunk. I'm frowning on this blog today as negative and improper!

Posted by stevo, 28/07/2009 11:32:36 AM, on The Herald

And you've had only the happy stuff so far, stevo!

Posted by Jeff Corbett on 28/07/2009 11:46:53 AM

Stevo, it is reinforces stereotypes, well so be it. Maybe then it is something that community can work on in conjunction with the propper authorities to assist them in becomming part of Australian society. Maybe they don't understand the differences in our laws and their countries laws, and need guidance, etc. If it becomes clear they prefer to work under say, for example Sharia Law, then the authorities can suggest maybe, an alternative country to reside in.

Posted by Nafe, 28/07/2009 12:22:06 PM, on The Herald

Standard question asked to all offenders by Police and recorded on the computer. Country of Birth, mothers country of birth, and fathers country of birth. Someone is not handing over the info Jeff. Anyway you work for a media organisation, go through the last six months of extreme serious crime in NSW, home invasions, drive by shootings, major drug supply, murder and attempted murder, gang rape etc. I think a picture will appear.

Posted by Buell, 28/07/2009 12:26:26 PM, on The Herald

The picture will emerge in tomorrow's stats, buell. There are, too, a few surprises.

Posted by Jeff Corbett on 28/07/2009 12:30:41 PM

Stevo - I'd love to think your point about country of birth being irrelevant is right. Unfortunately, I don't think it is. Whilst migrants might have (generally) lower levels of education and more limited 'life chances', they do seem more disposed to doing things that put them in prison. In absolute terms, there are probably more Australians with lower education / poor life chances.....but they are less likely to end up in gaol. Our immigration policy should absolutely discriminate against people with a criminal background. Why should we spend our hospital money on feeding overseas crooks?

Posted by Abundance, 28/07/2009 12:38:48 PM, on The Herald

Just wondering if tomorrow's figures will differentiate between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians?

Posted by stormbringer, 28/07/2009 1:09:14 PM, on The Herald

As we all know Aboriginal crime and jail rates are very high, one person in 77 jailed for serious crime in 2007/08 compared to one in 656 for non-Aboriginal Australians born in Australia.

Posted by Jeff Corbett on 28/07/2009 1:14:08 PM

Stormbringer, i think it will be more about the imigration rather than black v white Australians. I believe this blog is more of pointing out the governments failings on imigration policy rather than this race is worse at crime than Aboriginals and white Australia. I think that blog would be for another day

Posted by Nafe, 28/07/2009 1:17:18 PM, on The Herald

Why not go back through the crime records for some decades and see what crimes were committed by the immigrant ancestors of todays's "low crime" native born true blue Aussies? Who knows what our own forebears may have done? And yet look at the wonderful results. Any crims in your background Jeff? Maybe on your wife's side? I'm not sure about mine. Maybe if Orangemen count...

Posted by Kerse, 28/07/2009 2:03:33 PM, on The Herald

I would happily do that historical study, Kerse, if the data were available to me. We should never be wary of information. The people of my birth place, Australia, are in the list to be published tomorrow.

Posted by Jeff Corbett on 28/07/2009 2:20:45 PM

Perhaps it is frowned upon Jeff because it is generally unhelpful though interesting none the less. Would I notice a difference in crime rate if we halted immigration from the 15 worst offenders. Isn’t it possible that if there was a gap in the crime scene left by their exclusion that it would not be quickly filled. I am interested to see how you are going to link country of origin and propensity to crime without alternative explanations being just as likely.

Posted by Ed, 28/07/2009 2:16:14 PM, on The Herald

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