Moroccan immigrants’ overrepresentation in property-related crime in the Netherlands: an explanation by social bond theory

Abstract

In the Netherlands, Moroccan immigrant youth are being overrepresented as suspects of property crime compared to native Dutch youth. By studying the protective factors that prevents this group from committing property crimes, policymakers and researchers can develop more effective strategies that promote social cohesion and integration. In this study the social bond theory was used as a framework to study to what extent property crime self-reported by Moroccan immigrant youth in the Netherlands can be explained by social bonds. In this study (N = 1139) the NELLS-dataset was used to study the likelihood of stealing for Moroccan immigrant youth compared to native Dutch youth mediated by attachment to parents, attachment to friends, attachment to school/work and commitment to conventional values. The binary logistic regression showed that Moroccan immigrant youth were significantly more likely to steal when controlling for individual factors. They were also more attached to their friends and conventional values, but this didn’t influence the likelihood of stealing. The results support that Moroccan immigrant youth do have different social bonds compared to native Dutch, but this did not explain their overrepresentation in property crime. This shows the importance of not only measuring the strength of the social bond but also the kind of bond.