Crime and Russian immigration - Socialization or importation? The Israeli case

Questions about the possible relationship between ethnicity, immigration and crime have been raised since the days of the early pioneers of criminology. Criminological research conducted in Israel in the last three decades pointed clearly at the existence of correlation between crime and ethnic origin as related also to immigration. The current study examines the involvement of Jewish Russian immigrants in crime. While data on the issue is limited the study attempts to examine whether crime is locally produced in Israel as a result of the crisis of immigration, or perhaps imported from the former USSR. Finding tend to show that part of the crime in which recent Russian immigrants are involved in is indeed a result of the difficulties of absorption into a new culture, however, there are indicators that part of the criminal activity is related to the escalating crime rates in the former USSR and therefore being imported from the Eastern Block and results from a spillover effect.