The Hispanic Epidemiological and Criminological Paradoxes

An intriguing finding in demographic studies of majority–minority group differences in mortality is that Hispanics in the United States, particularly those of Mexican origin, have a life expectancy similar to, and sometimes higher than, whites. This is a situation exactly the opposite that of non-Hispanic blacks. Despite the fact that Mexican Americans and African Americans both have a greater likelihood than whites to be unemployed, in poverty, with low levels of education, and have a long history of discrimination – all of which should result in high levels of mortality -- Mexican Americans compared to whites are not disadvantaged with regard to longevity, but African Americans are. This is known as the Hispanic epidemiological paradox. There is a similar finding in studies of criminal behavior, showing that Hispanic neighborhoods, especially those mainly inhabited by immigrants, have low crime rates, at about the same level as those of whites in similar neighborhoods, but much higher than those of African American neighborhoods. This is known as the Hispanic criminological paradox. In this paper we present our new and extended research and analyses of Hispanic and non-Hispanic mortality and criminal behavior in the United States around the period of 2000-2010.