Immigrant Populations as Victims in New York City and Philadelphia, 1994

The purpose of this study was to examine interrelated issues surrounding the use of the criminal justice system by immigrant victims and to identify ways to improve the criminal justice response to immigrants' needs and problems. Two cities, New York City and Philadelphia, were selected for intensive investigation of victimization of immigrants. In each of these cities, three immigrant communities in a neighborhood were chosen for participation. In New York's Jackson Heights area, Colombians, Dominicans, and Indians were the ethnic groups studied. In Philadelphia's Logan section, Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Koreans were surveyed. In all, 87 Jackson Heights victims were interviewed and 26 Philadelphia victims were interviewed. The victim survey questions addressed can be broadly divided into two categories: issues pertaining to crime reporting and involvement with the court system by immigrant victims. Variables include type of crime, respondent's role in the incident, relationship to the perpetrator, whether the incident was reported to police, and who reported the incident. Respondents were also asked whether they were asked to go to court, whether they understood what the people in court said to them, whether they understood what was happening in their case, and, if victimized again, whether they would report the incident to the police.