Immigrants and the Criminal Justice System: An Exploratory Study

Experts have argued that there are significant barriers to recent immigrants' use of the criminal justice system. This exploratory study, using convenience samples, is among the first to look empirically at the experiences of recent immigrant victims with the criminal justice system in the United States. Contrary to expectations, we found that immigrants reported relatively few problems unique to foreign-born persons in dealing with the police and the courts, and that their satisfaction with the justice system was comparable to levels reported in studies of native-born victims. The results suggest that although recent immigrants' expectations ofthe criminal justice system may be different from those of native born, the experiences of immigrant victims and their satisfaction with the justice system are similar in many respects to those of native-born victims.