Violent Crimes Against Latinos Reach Record Low
Alex Meneses Miyashita     [Photo]

The rate that violent crimes are committed against Hispanics has reached its lowest point yet since the federal government began documenting ethnicity in its annual crime victimization survey a dozen years ago.

In a just-released survey, the Bureau of Justice Statistics reports data for 2004 that show Hispanics with a “victimization rate” of 18.2 for 2004. This means that of every 1,000 Latinos living in the United States, just over 18 of them were victims of a violent crime.

That’s a substantial drop from 24.2 the year before.

For the first time, it’s lower than the rate for whites (21.0). For blacks, the rate was 26.0.

The overall national rate was 21.4.

The rates for all groups follow a nationwide decline over the past 30 years, according to the bureau. Hispanics have seen a 67% reduction since 1993, followed by blacks (61.4%), and whites (56.2%).

The bureau includes robbery, assault, sexual assault and rape in the “violent crime” category, but not homicide. That may seem odd, but the bureau explains its data is based on crime victim interviews. Dead men don’t talk.

"We don't want to have any Latino victimizations, but a reduction is definitely something we should embrace," Angela Arboleda, civil rights policy analyst for the National Council of La Raza, told Hispanic Link News Service.

She added, "There has been a lot of collaboration, particularly between parents and youth and community-based service providers in the area of youth violence. What we have not seen are those efforts being reported out into the media."

Arboleda stressed that while youth and gang violence are a serious existing problem, the mainstream media has played a role in creating an exaggerated image of violence among Latinos.

"This report by the BJS is completely juxtaposed to what we've been hearing for the past year," she said.

Ramiro Martínez, Jr., criminology professor at Florida International University, told Hispanic Link that anti-immigrant media coverage has contributed to linking Latinos with crime.

"It's really amazing to me that people have never made the connection between more immigrants, less crime," he said.

He offered an interesting explanation for the dramatic decrease of both Hispanic and other victims.

"What's happening is that immigrants are moving into areas — in some cases, extremely poor areas — and what they are really doing is fortifying these communities that are in many cases isolated or marked by extreme disadvantage. They're stabilizing these communities. They're not increasing deterioration."

But Anthony Miranda, executive chairman of the National Latino Officers Association of America, questioned whether the numbers presented by the BJS are fully reflective of what goes on in many Hispanic communities.

The reason, he explained, is that many Hispanic immigrants are hesitant to report crimes to the police for fear that their immigration status will be questioned.

"We're not being victimized only by the criminal element," he said.

(Alex Meneses Miyashita is a reporter with Hispanic Weekly report. He can be reached at alex@hispaniclink.org)

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© 2005, Hispanic Link News Service
10/09/05
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