Victimization and Fear of Crime among Arab Americans in Metro-Detroit

This grant is funded under NIJs FY 2013 W.E.B. Du Bois Fellowship for Research on Race, Gender, Culture and Crime Program, which sought applications for funding to advance knowledge regarding the confluence of crime, justice, and culture in various societal contexts. The Fellowship places particular emphasis on crime, violence, and the administration of justice in diverse cultural contexts within the United States.
Despite the continued visibility and the focus of political and public discourse, Arab Americans experiences with crime and justice remain understudied in the post-9/11 era. The purpose of this project is threefold: (1) to investigate Arab Americans experiences with crime and factors that affect their risks of victimization; (2) to examine Arab Americans fear of crime and correlates of such fear; and (3) to assess Arab Americans willingness to report crime to the police. The goals of this research are to improve the ability of the criminal justice system to respond to crime, enhance community safety, and reduce fear of crime among this understudied, minority population. This project proposes to collect data via face-to-face interview surveys with 200 Arab American residents from randomly selected households in Dearborn (150 participants) and Dearborn Heights (50 participants), MI. In addition, identical interviews with 200 randomly selected non-Arab American households in the same geographic areas will be conducted for comparison purposes. Multivariate regression analyses will be used to assess the relative effects of different groups of explanatory variables on victimization and fear of crime among the participants. This study will add to the literature contextualizing the Arab American experience in the criminal justice realm, and illuminate the interaction effects of ethnicity, nationality, and culture on crime and justice. There are several implications for this research including guidance to policy makers and practitioners in the allocation of resources and development of policies and practices that reduce victimization, increase willingness to report crime, and provide insights into strategies to cope with the fear of crime among Arab Americans. ca/ncf