Understanding and Measuring Bias Victimization against Latinos

While significant strides have been made in victimization research among immigrant and non-immigrant Latinos, the investigation of bias victimization events and bias crime within this population remains largely absent. Furthermore, the evaluation of bias victimization within the context of other forms of victimization is crucial to gain a comprehensive understanding of the scope of bias victimization, its co-occurrence with other forms of victimization, the degree to which it is disclosed and reported to formal criminal justice entities (e.g., police, courts, etc.), the impact it has on psychosocial outcomes, and what factors might play a role in bias victimization risk.

The proposed study will obtain data on bias victimization among a hard to reach population of Latino adults, across three sites in the U.S., Boston, Houston/Galveston region, and San Diego. The study aims to recruit 900 individuals (300 per site) and query participants on their experience of bias victimization as well as other forms of interpersonal victimization, disclosing and reporting of bias victimization, psychosocial outcomes, and culturally salient factors that may contribute to victimization risk (e.g., immigrant status, acculturation). Due to the current challenges in surveying this population (e.g., high use of mobile phone, expense of random digit-dialing approaches) we plan to embed methodological experiment to evaluate three methods for having participants complete the survey, in-person interview, in-person web-based response with a mobile device, remote web-based response (with participant device of choice). The aim is to determine the feasibility of these approaches, evaluate if there are differential reporting rates, and determine how these more cost-effective efforts could be used in future, larger scale surveys with this population.

Findings from this study will provide valuable information about the nature and patterns of of bias victimization among immigrant and non-immigrant Latinos, potential remedies to assist in prevention and disclosure of bias victimization, and evaluate methodological approaches to surveying this population for future violence research.
ca/ncf