Immigrants and Law Enforcement: A Comparison of Native-Born and Foreign-Born Americans' Opinions of the Police
| Date | 01 January 2007 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026975800701400105 |
| Author | Nicole J. Hendricks,Robert C. Davis |
| Published date | 01 January 2007 |
International
Review
ofVictimology.
2007,
Vol.
14,
pp.
81-94
0269-7580/07$10
© A B
Academic
Publishers
-
Printed
in
Great
Britain
IMMIGRANTS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT: A
COMPARISON
OF
NATIVE-BORN AND
FOREIGN-BORN AMERICANS' OPINIONS
OF
THE
POLICE
ROBERT
C.
DAVIS
•t and
NICOLE
J.
HENDRICKS#
t
Rand
Corporation,
USA
#Holyoke
Community
College
and
Vera
Institute
of
Justice,
USA
ABSTRACT
As
the
immigrant
population
continues
to
grow,
law
enforcement
agencies
face
increasing
demands
to
provide
services
and
reach
out
to
groups
that
are
subject to victimization
and
reluctant to
become
involved
with
authorities.
The
current
paper
provides
a quantitative
look
at
how
immigrants
perceive
the
police,
how
they
evaluate
their
experiences
with
police,
and
their
willingness
to
engage
in
voluntary
contacts
with
the
police,
relative
to
native-born
Americans.
Data
come
from
a
telephone
survey
with
a
community
sample
of
residents
of
Seattle
commissioned
by
the
city officials
to
identify
possible
friction
points
in
police-public
interactions.
After
controlling
for
ethnicity
and
other
demographic
factors,
we
found
that
immigrants
rated
the
police
more
positively
than
native-born
Americans
on
measures
of
police
effectiveness,
police
misconduct,
and
satisfaction
with
both
voluntary
and
involuntary
contacts.
However,
we
found
that
immigrants
were
far
less
likely
than
native-born
Americans
to
contact
the
police
for
assistance.
On
measures
from
reporting
crimes
and
other
problem
situations
to
participating
in
police
anti-crime
programs,
immigrants
were
less
likely
to
seek
contact
with
the
police.
Keywords:
immigrant
victims
-immigrant-police
relations
-
crime
reporting
-
immigrant
aUiLudes
towards
police
INTRODUCTION
The
use
of
surveys
as
a
tool
to
assess
police-citizen interactions dates
back
to
the
1970s
in
the
United
States
and
the
United
Kingdom.
In
the
intervening
years,
surveys
have
consistently
demonstrated
that
a
majority
of
people
are
supportive
of
the
police
and
satisfied
with
the
way
they
perfonn their
duties
*
Robert
C.
Davis,
Rand
Corporation,
1200
South
Hayes
Street,
Arlington
VA22202-5050,
USA.
The
views
expressed
in
this
article
are
those
of
the
authors
and
do
not
necessarily
reflect
those
of
the
Rand
Corporation
or
Vera
Institute
of
Justice.
Nicole
J.
Hendricks
has
recently
changed
her
name
from
Nicole
J.
Henderson.
To continue reading
Request your trial