Why Aren't Minorities Involved in Victim Assistance?

Since the early 1970s the concerns and rights of crime victims have gained increased attention by the American public. Victim witness programs and Victim advocate groups have sprung up across the country. These groups have urged criminal justice officials and politicians to accord the same concerns and rights to victims of crime as they give to criminal defendants.

Women's groups have been at the forefront of the Victims rights movement because ot their concerns about rape and domestic violence. The leaders and the followers ot these groups have been primarily white women, especially suburbanites, such groups as MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers) and a number of neighborhood victim advocacy programs.

One may ask why the victim rights movement has been led by European women when their victimization rate is lower than that of European men, African American women and African American men. One explanation can be found in research on the fear of crime, which show that females tend to be more fearful of crime than males. Nevertheless, the literature also suggests that African Americans and the urban poor have a great fear of crime.

One author makes distinctions between fear of crime and concern about crime. He explains that the low income classes "fear crime the most, perhaps because they risk victimization more, yet middle classes show more concern about crime and about appropriate public policy"(Elias, 1986: 118). Fear may lead persons to take precautions. but concern will generate activism and political involvement.

Fear of crime is only one barrier that inhibits minority persons from being actively involved with victim rights. Other barriers include all overall distrust of the system, a belief that society places greater importance on the rights of the oftender than on the victim, communication problems, and financial problems. A discussion of these barriers is included in the upcoming section.

BARRIER 1: Minorities Do Not Trust "The System"

The lack of minority involvement is rooted in the historical relationship between minority persons and the criminal justice system . African Americans, Hispanics and Southeast Asians have traditionally distrusted agents of the criminal justice system, especially the police. The distrust by African Americans can be traced hack to slavery and Reconstruction when criminal justice agents were used to support the slavery system and to continue "slavery" long after its abolition. Hispanics have often viewed the police as oppressors who use immigration laws to harass them. Many Southeast Asians who have experienced life under a political system where the police have little or no regard for human rights also tend to view the police in a negative light.

African Americans are fearful of crime, but their fear of the criminal justice system - - especially the police - - is often greater.

A number of studies have shown that African Americans feel that police brutality is a common problem in their communities. Whereas the perception of the extent of police brutality is not as great as it was in the 1960s and 1970s, there is, however, a continuing suspicion whether African Americans will receive fair treatment by law enforcement personnel.

It has often been stated by African Americans that their are four standards of justice in the United States. When European Americans commit crimes against European Americans there is equal protection; when African Americans commit crimes against African Americans the courts are lenient: when European Americans commit crimes against African Americans, there is light punishment or no punishment; but when Atrican Americans commit crimes against European Americans there is swift and severe punishment. These assumptions have been supported in part by death penalty research that show that an African American is more likely to receive the death sentence if his/her victim is a European American.

Minority crime victims and minority persons wanting to be advocates for victims of crimes can overcome the barriers that stand in their way. Minority persons must first decide to be an active part of the system and make it respond to those special needs of minority crime victims. Barriers which are obstacles for minority involvement can be identified and addressed with some of the programs that are suggested in this handbook.

BARRIER 2: Overemphasis On The Offender/Defendant

One of the primary reasons for the lack of involvement of African Americans in the early days of the victims movement was the preoccupation with defendants' rights. The issue of the rights of rape defendants, as an example, was an especially sensitive issue in the African American community.

Studies have shown that the rape charge was often used in a discriminatory fashion in instances where an African American man had been charged with raping a European American woman. During the period from the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation to World War II, approximately 3,000 African Americans were lynched by mobs, and of these, 20 percent were accused of rape. One observer noted that in the majority of these cases no rape had taken place and there had been no sexual contact between the lynch victim and a European American women (Saggarin, 1975). Eighty-nine percent of those executed for rape during the period from 1930-1967 were African American. Seven of the states with capital punishment legislation for rape did not execute one European American person for the crime prior to the Supreme Court decision outlawing such legislation. These same states, with the exception of one, executed at least one African American man for rape.

These facts made Atrican Americans very suspicious of Europeann American women's groups that were promoting the rifhts of rape victims. They feared that these women were only interested in retribution which could include the death penalty for accused rapists. Little or no attention was given to the fact that African American women were more likely to be raped then European American women and that the perpetrators were more likely tp be the same race as the victims.

Past unjust practices. such as those mentioned above, only increased the sense of isolation that many minorities harbor for the criminial justice system. Minorities must take it upon themselves to break down these systematic barriers. They can do this by: l) becoming informed about victim services that are available from the police department and other service providers, and 2) organizing the community to respond when friends or neighbors have been victimized by a crime. In the chapters that follow, specific programs will be outlined for neighborhood group activities that can help to break down the barriers.

BARRIER 3: Language/Communication Problems

The single most significant characteristic of the human race is the ability to communicate. This statement implies more than mere expressiveness; it suggests that inforrnation can be transmitted between human beings in ways that are understandable. Some words and jargon are used more frequently by certain social groups of people than others. In cases where this occurs, persons within the culture are capable of understanding and communicating without difficulty. However, others may find such communication nearly impossible.

Even more problematic than using different words and phrases is the inability to speak English. Minority victims of crime may experience not only the trauma of being a victim but also the frustration of attempting to communicate with law enforcement personnel and other critical persons in the victim assistance arena. Minorities who are not bilingual cannot communicate with anyone other than a person who speaks their language. Thus minorities who are not fluent in English may not be able to report their victimizations.

Minority groups historically have had hostile and sometimes violent encounters with the majority. With this as background, it can be clearly seen that communication between minority victims and the police or court personnel is often based on distrust and fear. Since many minorities, do not trust the police, they live in a double-bind. On one hand they are fearful victims of criminals, but on the other hand they are hesitant to call police for assistance because of their fear and distrust of them. As a result, minorities are not coming forth to communicate with the police when they have been victimized or witnessed crimes, and police generally lack confidence that minorities will voluntarily come forward and assist in the detection of crime and the prosecution of criminals. Since police tend to identify minorities and crime as "part and parcel" with such negative perceptions by both parties, it is not unusual that little or no understanding exists between minorities and the police.

There are several methods that may be used to alleviate some of these communication problems between minorities and law enforcement. Police departments should require all officers to participate in training which will sensitize them to the many differences in cultures. The training should include communication skills to use with members of particular cultures, and it should also address the various perceptions that these cultures may have ahout law enforcement and the criminal justice system. As part of this training, officers' own negative perceptions, biases and treatment of minority crime victims should be discussed. These departments should employ bilingual officers to act as interpreters for non-English speaking citizens.

Police departments may also set up neighborhood community meetings to introduce officers to minority community residents. The meetings can be used as forums for residents to raise concerns that they may have about crime and victimization in their neighborhoods. Officers can utilize the meetings to discuss victim assistance services that are available.

Minority community residents could sponsor an ethnic festival or outdoor cultural event and invite members of the law enforcement community to attend. The various ethnic groups could display particular aspects of their culture. Events such as these allow law enforcement officers to interact with various cultural groups in a relaxed and informal atmosphere. Traditionally, since minorities have only seen police officers as coming to enforce the law in their communities, this interaction will give that perception a new dimension.

Communication is but one of the barriers which places law enforcement personnel and minorities on opposite sides of the table. It will take determined efforts from both parties to eradicate the problem, by beginning dialogue which helps to understand the role that police and minority residents play in the criminal iustice process.

BARRIER 4: Economic Problems For Minorities

Minority persons are much more likely than whites to be in a lower income group and unemployed, with poor housing and little access to health care. With the exception of Asian-Americans, minorities lead in the rate of arrests and incarcerations. African Americans are victimized by crime more than any other minority. Not only are the rates of victimization higher for African Americans than for European Americans but they are also higher for the urban dweller and the poor. African Americans who are disproportionately urban dwellers and disproportionately poor are therefore at a much higher risk of victimization than their counterparts. Consequently, the impact of victilalization is compounded.

Criminal justice researchers have tound a causal link between individuals' socioeconomic brackets and the likelihood of being a perpetrator or victim of crime. A former Attorney General of the United States concluded that "probably four out of five of all serious crimes flow from places of extreme poverty and most are inflicted on the people who live there." He attributed crimes to the nroblems of poor education. unemployment, bad health and inadequate housing.

How do we overcome economic barriers which prevent minorities from becoming involved in victim assistance. Community leaders and activists can use businesses, churches and school buildings that are available for meetings. Many victim assistance activities such as those below can be carried out in your community without money:

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This document was last updated on June 26, 2008