| The objective of this study is to test Hirschi's social bonding theory by exploring the relationship between immigration and crime in Taiwan. Taiwan was chosen because it is a developed country with a large immigrant population from East Asian countries and Mainland China. In nearly 100 years, social disorganization theory, strain and opportunity theories, and cultural theories have been developed to provide explanations for immigrant crime. However, tests of the above theories find little support for hypotheses, or the findings at best are mixed. Hirschi (1969) suggests that the more attached persons are to other members of the society, the more they believe in the values of conventional society, and the more they invest in and are involved in conventional lines of activity, the less likely they are to deviate. Four elements (attachment, commitment, involvement, belief) of social bonding theory are tested with immigrant crime in Taiwan. This study contains 256 responses from Taipei prison and 237 non-offender responses from Taiwan's five cities and counties.;This study used logistic regression to predict immigrant crime and applied multiple regression to predict immigrant delinquency. There were several propositions tested in this study that may add to existing scholarship. First, the models were applied to Taiwan and in immigration settings. It is obvious that the number of studies of social bonding theory conducted in East Asia is fairly small. This study, using Taiwan's sample, empirically studied social bonding theory and tested its validity across a different culture and country. Second, among the four elements of the social bond, belief is the single best predictor of immigrants' crime and delinquency rate. Age and gender have significant effects on predicting immigrant crime and delinquency. Third, immigrants who work fall time and hold strong beliefs are less likely to engage in criminal and delinquent acts.;KEY WORDS: Taiwan, Social Bonding Theory, Immigration Crime, Attachment, Commitment, Involvement, Belief. |
