Access to Justice for Immigrants Who are Victimized: The Perspectives of Police and Prosecutors

• Author: Nancy Avitabile,Robert C. Davis,Edna Erez
• DOI: 10.1177/0887403401012003001
• Published date: 01 September 2001
• Date: 01 September 2001
• Subject Matter: Journal Article

CRIMINAL JUSTICE POLICY REVIEW / September 2001Davis et al. / JUSTICE ACCESS FOR VICTIMIZED IMMIGRANTS

Access to Justice for Immigrants

Who Are Victimized: The Perspectives

of Police and Prosecutors

Robert C. Davis

Vera Institute of Justice

Edna Erez

Kent State University

Nancy Avitabile

Visiting Nurse Service

The increaseddiversity of the U.S. population poses special challenges to the criminal

justice system. High levels of immigration to the United States within the past decade

require that law enforcement and court organizations understand the concerns of

crime victims who are recentimmigrants, and facilitate meaningful access to the jus-

tice system. Employing survey methodology,this research describes the barriers that

immigrants encounter in accessing justice, as they emerged from the responses of

police chiefs and prosecutors in the 50 largest cities of the United States. Criminal

justice officialsbelieve that failure to report crimes and to cooperate in their prosecu-

tion is a significant problem, especially for domestic violence offenses. The results

suggest that many metropolitan areashave made some efforts to promote participa-

tion of immigrant victims in the criminal justice system. But far moreneeds to be done

to ensure access to justice for this growing segment of society.

It is axiomatic that the criminal justice system functions more effectively

with the support and cooperation of citizens. Citizen reports are commonly

the reason that criminals are apprehended, and victim cooperation is often

essential for successful prosecution. Yet, it is clear that citizens/victims

often choose not to notify authorities, and, therefore, many crimes go unre-

ported. For example, according to victimization surveys, only half of rob-

beries and burglaries in the U.S. are reported to the police (Skogan, 1984).

Failure to report crimes appears only minimally associated with member-

ship in various demographic groups (Skogan, 1984). However, reporting

has been shown to be a function of previous experiences with the police

when reporting victimization (Conaway & Lohr, 1994; Skogan, 1994).

183

Criminal Justice Policy Review, Volume 12, Number 3, September 2001 183-196

© 2001 Sage Publications