Immigrant Populations as Victims in New York City and Philadelphia, 1994 (ICPSR 6793)
Version Date: Nov 4, 2005 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
Robert C. Davis, Victim Services Agency;
Edna Erez, Victim Services Agency
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR06793.v1
Version V1
Summary View help for Summary
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.
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Funding View help for Funding
Subject Terms View help for Subject Terms
Geographic Coverage View help for Geographic Coverage
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Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection
Data Collection Notes View help for Data Collection Notes
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(1) The codebook and data collection instrument are provided as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file. The PDF file format was developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated and can be accessed using PDF reader software, such as the Adobe Acrobat Reader. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Acrobat Reader is provided in the README file on the diskette version of this study and through the ICPSR Website on the Internet. (2) Data from the national survey of police chiefs, prosecutors agencies, and court administrators are not available as part of this data collection.
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
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. Questions addressed by this study can be broadly divided into two categories: issues pertaining to reporting crimes and involvement with the court system by immigrant victims. Some crime reporting questions are: To what extent do immigrant populations underreport crimes to the police? Is underreporting more characteristic of some immigrant groups than others? What are the principal reasons for underreporting? Which types of crimes are most and least likely to be reported to authorities? What is the experience with the police of immigrants who do report crimes? What kinds of institutional barriers exist to reporting crimes to the police, and what could be done to remove the barriers? Questions concerning court system involvement include: Are immigrant victims who do report crimes willing to cooperate with court officials in prosecuting? If they are reluctant, what are their reservations? What institutional barriers exist to cooperating with court officials in prosecuting and adjudicating cases?
Study Design View help for Study Design
This study takes an exploratory look at a set of interrelated issues surrounding use of the criminal justice system by immigrant victims. A variety of convergent methods were used to address the issues examined. Respondents to a national survey of police chiefs, prosecutor agencies, and court administrators from the 50 largest United States cities were asked their opinions about the extent to which victims who were recent immigrants have equal access to the criminal justice system and about impediments to fuller participation. Upon completion of the national survey, New York City and Philadelphia were selected for intensive investigation. Neighborhoods with a strong multi-ethnic character were examined. In New York's Jackson Heights area, Colombians, Dominicans, and Indians were studied. In Philadelphia's Logan section, Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Koreans were surveyed. Interviews in Jackson Heights were conducted over the telephone by multilingual Victim Services staff. In all, 87 Jackson Heights victims were interviewed. Of the 26 Philadelphia victims interviewed, 12 were interviewed in person in their homes, and 14 were interviewed by telephone. The interviews in Philadelphia were conducted by local Asian ethnic contractors. Those individuals who reported crimes to the police were asked about their experiences with the police and/or the court. For persons who failed to report a crime, reasons for their reluctance in reporting were elicited.
Sample View help for Sample
This study began with a national survey of police chiefs, prosecutors agencies, and court administrators from the 50 largest United States cities. Two cities, New York City and Philadelphia, were selected for additional intensive investigation. In each of these two cities, convenience samples were obtained from one neighborhood and three immigrant communities chosen for participation. In New York's Jackson Heights area, Colombians, Dominicans, and Indians were studied. In Philadelphia's Logan section, Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Koreans were surveyed.
Universe View help for Universe
All immigrants in the United States from 1980 to 1990.
Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation
Data Source View help for Data Source
personal and telephone interviews
Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)
Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables
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.
Response Rates View help for Response Rates
Not applicable.
Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales
None.
HideOriginal Release Date View help for Original Release Date
1998-01-12
Version History View help for Version History
- Davis, Robert C., and Edna Erez. IMMIGRANT POPULATIONS AS VICTIMS IN NEW YORK CITY AND PHILADELPHIA, 1994. ICPSR version. New York, NY: Victim Services Agency [producer], 1994. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 1997. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR06793.v1
2005-11-04 On 2005-03-14 new files were added to one or more datasets. These files included additional setup files as well as one or more of the following: SAS program, SAS transport, SPSS portable, and Stata system files. The metadata record was revised 2005-11-04 to reflect these additions.
1998-01-12 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:
- Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
Notes
The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.