The Citizenship Status and Its Impact on Crime Victimization Reporting: The Case of Asian Immigrants

• In Event: New Directions in Research on Immigration and Victimization

Abstract

The increasing influx of immigrants to the United States poses special challenges for the criminal justice system. Until recently, however, previous research has paid little attention to the experiences of immigrants in contact with the criminal justice system. In particular, reporting crime victimization to law enforcement among Asian American immigrants has not been studied widely. Therefore, the current study aims to understand immigrant crime victimization in the U.S. by examining the following questions: 1) how prevalent is crime victimization among immigrants?; 2) how prevalent is the reporting of crime victimization by immigrants?; 3) what factors influence criminal victimization among immigrants?; and 4) what factors influence the reporting of crime victimization by immigrants? In addition, this study seeks to explore the impact of changes in the political atmosphere and its impact on crime victimization reporting. Based on a survey and interview of 45 Korean immigrants living in South Texas, the primary outcomes of this research were responses to key survey questions regarding the rates of crime victimization, fear of reporting crimes, causes of this fear, and the effects of anti-immigrant rhetoric on reporting crimes among Korean immigrants in the U.S.

Author

• Daehoon Han, Texas A&M University-Kingsville