This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The story "Report: 6 to 9 percent of Utah inmates are illegal immigrants" (Tribune, Sept. 11) reported on a study sociology professor Charlie Morgan presented to the Utah Commission on Immigration and Migration.
According to Morgan, Utah's violent-crime rate decreased from 272 crimes per 100,000 Utahns in 1978 to 224 in 2008. "We can therefore presume that the rise in Hispanics does not coincide with a rise in violent crimes," Morgan wrote in the report. "In other words, Utahns are safer now than they ever have been in the past three decades."
Why did the report break down the numbers by race? Legal and illegal is about the law, not race?
What does the commission hope to gain by a report like this? Does it make the victims of crime feel better?
Will the victims of crimes committed by illegal immigrants, or their family members, be welcome to speak before the commission?
Since these criminals shouldn't be in this country in the first place, why is any number, other than zero, acceptable?
Susan Rounds
Midvale