Old and new criminality: Territory, society and immigration in Italy

Abstract

The heated debate over the migration-crime link has mainly revolved around immigrants' crime rates. Conversely, the territorial relation between migration and crime has been the subject of only a few investigations. Italy represents an ideal context for studying such a territorial relation, since this country has been characterized by a tumultuous migratory flow, concerning however mainly the Central & Northern regions. The present paper results show that crime distribution in Italy displays two conflicting scenarios. The limited immigrant share in the South helped preserve a traditional picture of criminality, which has little to do with immigrants. Whereas in the Central & Northern provinces, a new criminality, associated with immigrants and their problems of integration, has emerged.