USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications

Self-reported violent victimization among young adults in Miami, Florida: Immigration, race/ethnic and gender contrasts.

SelectedWorks Author Profiles:

Frank A. Biafora

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2007

ISSN

0269-7580

Abstract

Does being an immigrant place an individual at greater risk than non-immigrants for violent victimization? Could residence in homogeneous communities, such as ethnic enclaves, serve to protect or mediate victimization among immigrant groups from being targets of victimization? These and related questions are explored using self-report data from a large epidemiological survey project (n = 1,473) in Miami, Florida. Self-reports of three types of victimization data are identified and contrasted among and between Cuban and Nicaraguan immigrants, and members of the host country — U.S. born Cubans, African Americans and non-Hispanic Whites. Controlling for gender, findings from this predominantly-Latino community suggest that immigrant groups in Miami are no more likely to experience vicarious, violent or sexual victimization than non-immigrants. African Americans were found to be more exposed to vicarious forms of violence. These self-report results support findings from recent macro-level criminological studies that have called into question the common stereotype of the immigrant as victim and as criminal. The authors contend that the supportive social, political and cultural environments awaiting Latino immigrants arriving in Miami may be part of a unique historic phenomenon in this Southern Port city, one that suggests a re-evaluation and fine-tuning of traditional structural models of crime and victimization.

Comments

Abstract only. Full-text article is available only through licensed access provided by the publisher. Published in International Review of Victimology, 14(1), 29-55. DOI:10.1177/026975800701400103 Members of the USF System may access the full-text of the article through the authenticated link provided.

Language

en_US

Publisher

Sage Publications LTD

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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