This research brief summarizes a study that investigated whether the diverse cultural makeup of many communities requires the criminal justice system to modify its approach, particularly in handling immigrants. The study examined whether immigrant victims have more difficulty than other victims in dealing with the police and courts because of differences in language, expectations, and treatment by officials. Researchers surveyed police chiefs, prosecutors, court administrators, and victims from diverse immigrant neighborhoods. According to the results, many recent immigrants fail to report crimes. Most participants saw this failure to report crimes as a serious problem which allowed criminals to go free and eroded the ability of the criminal justice system to function effectively. Domestic violence was the least reported crime. Sexual assault and gang violence were also underreported. Most incidents described by respondents involved perpetrators from the same ethnic group as the victim. Officials believed that immigrants faced great hardships when reporting crimes to police or appearing in court, including language barriers, cultural differences, and ignorance of the U.S. justice system. Immigrants who reported crimes and appeared in court mostly reported positive experiences. Two sidebars present innovative programs serving immigrant victims and promising findings. (SM)
