Jonathan Pederson
Katie Frey
Victimology
2 December 2016

Victimization of Syrian Refugees: A Comparison to Prior Refugees

Abstract

Refugees have always faced victimization; when it comes to proportional rates, refugees face the highest rate of victimization than any other category of people. Throughout the 20th and 21st century, the American government has welcomed refugees with open arms while the American population rejects them, often times with harsh violence. Countless studies point to the fact that whenever a group of refugees enter a locality, the people of the locality victimize them. It is, therefore, important to continue studying the victimization of refugees in order to understand the situation and help alleviate the causes of this problem and what factors increase or decrease victimization among refugees. It is equally important to look into refugee victimization nationwide; most studies into refugee victimization only look into certain localities, whereas a nationwide study will be able to mitigate factors such as localities more or less prone to hate refugees. If, for example, a county in Florida borders another county that holds harsher attitudes towards refugees, a study into only one of these counties would inevitably skew the results of the study.

Many refugees experience a harsher degree of victimization when America is faced with troubling times. For example, victimization against Slavic refugees increased proportionately with the rise of the Red Scare, victimization among Muslims increased after the September 11 attacks, victimization among Hispanics increased during the economic collapse of 2008. Therefore, it is important to identify troubling times in America and find the relationship between those troubling times and possible groups of people prone to victimization because of it. A study of Syrian refugees will be able to provide more information towards characterizing this problem and provide the logical links perpetrators use in victimizing refugees.

Introduction.

American history reflects two essential antitheses; America was built on refugees escaping persecution and then turning around to persecute others. Early American colonies were built by protestants fleeing persecution from Europe. They, then naturally, turned around and persecuted Irish immigrants fleeing troublesome plagues. As the Irish assimilated into society, they turned around and persecuted Chinese immigrants fleeing opioid wars. Eventually, Chinese immigrants assimilated into the “boiling pot” America. When Armenian refugees fled the Armenian Genocide, they also experienced persecution inside America. Nearly every generation experiences this trend of immigration, persecution, and assimilation. Many of these groups fall under harsh characterizations that Americans use to justify their victimization. The Irish and Germans were characterized as drunk imbeciles, the Chinese as uneducated and unskilled, the Armenians as loud and cocky, and so on. Some of these stereotypes were so blatant, it is difficult to disassociate racism from the stereotype. Slavic immigrants were characterized as anti-American and middle-eastern refugees are characterized as terrorists.

The key difference between immigrants and refugees is a choice; whereas immigrants can, and often times do, choose not to migrate to America, refugees have no option but to flee their homes for safety. Does this mean refugees experience an exacerbated form of victimization? Because refugees cannot return to the countries they fled, do they experience an expedited rate of assimilation? Do the length of racial stereotypes last longer for immigrants as opposed to refugees? How does contact theory factor into the length of refugee victimization? A study of Syrian refugee victimization also sheds light onto more specific questions. What is the impact ISIS places on Syrian refugee victimization comparable to the victimization of Muslims after September 11? How much do these two groups overlap in their victimization?

Literature Review

Before delving into refugees, it is important to review what literature has to say in regards to the victimization of immigrants. The best study analyzing how immigrants are victimized hails from Jacob Bucher, Michelle Manasse, and Beth Tarasawa. Their article, Undocumented Victims: An Examination of Crimes Against Undocumented Male Migrant Workers, looked into the victimization of both documented and undocumented immigrants. Though the study yielded several key results, the most relevant result showed a correlation between victimization of immigrants and unemployment rate. This shows how citizens’ fear of job loss leads to higher aggression against foreigners.

The earliest concrete studies into refugee victimization hail from the 1980’s, when Michael L. Radelet and William Wilbanks studied murder rates in Dade County, also specifically Miami. The two wished to gauge homicide rates ranging from 1917 to 1982 and a component of their study looked into victimization of Mariel refugees. During the early 1980’s, Fidel Castro had initiated significant reforms throughout Cuba and Mariel was a predominant area facing particular struggles. As such, an influx of refugees sought safety in Florida; meanwhile, America demonized these refugees for two main reasons. Firstly, America demonized these refugees because they come from a soviet-controlled region. Though it had been two decades since the Cuban Missile Crisis, American, and Cuban tensions had yet to settle. Secondly, Mariel refugees faced demonization due to an increasing drug problem within the Miami area. President Nixon had declared a war on drugs a decade prior, while President Reagan had declared drugs to be a threat to national security.

Radelet and Wilbanks had correlated the war on drugs towards Mariel refugee victimization and said, “the victimization rate for the 125,000 1980 Mariel refugees was approximately equal to that of blacks. The most frequent motive for homicide was a domestic or another argument, followed by drug rip-offs, self-defense, and robbery” (Radelet, Michael L., and William Wilbanks). Mark Q. Sawyer further discusses Cuban refugee victimization in his book, Racial Politics in Post-Revolutionary Cuba. He identified a correlation between anti-soviet sentiments and refugee victimization, saying, “Many Cuban exiles, even those who have lived in the United States for forty years, see themselves as combatants in an ongoing war against the Castro regime. Some of them suffered abuse and humiliation as result of the Cuban Revolution” (Sawyer 161).
William F. McDonald' and Edna Erez studied victimization among immigrants and refugees for the International Review of Victimology. Their study gave important insights into the attitudes of the perpetrators. They explained how people perceive refugees.

It also bears mentioning that since the war in Yugoslavia and the collapse of Soviet communism, the term 'immigrant' (especially in Europe) is often used synonymously with refugee or asylum seeker. Indeed, the term, 'immigrant', in most of the literature today is not used in its technical, legal sense found in immigration laws but in the general sense of a social category imprecisely connoting 'foreigner' or, more generally, 'the other'. ( Mcdonald, W. F., and E. Erez).
This provides us keen insight on comparing the victimization rate between immigrants and refugees because the public views these two groups as the same. This would imply that these two groups face the same type of victimization, but it does not answer whether the two groups face the same duration of victimization.
Their contribution to refugee victimology also includes how victimization is studied. They explain that most studies into immigrant victimization utilize a humanist approach as opposed to a positive approach. This engulfs the scope of victimization to include legal forms of perpetration. These may include discriminatory behavior in getting hired, in getting wage losses, and in getting searched by police. I agree with this scope of victimization and should be continued in the study of Syrian refugee victimization. It is important to utilize the humanist approach because it helps explain attitudes between refugees and society.

The humanist approach explains the attitudes shared between refugees and police officers; this is especially evident in studies into Bhutanese and Vietnamese refugees. John Huey-Long Song studied Vietnamese victimization in the early 90's. During this time, Vietnam established a new constitution with strong communist reforms. As such, many Vietnamese citizens fled to America. Song's study showed that, fear of crime, poor communication with police, and gang activities are the major concerns for the Vietnamese in the sample, and that fear of crime and perceived police prejudice against residents are the primary concerns for the Chinese" (Song). However, Song's study identified the concerns of the Vietnamese sample was more serious than the Chinese sample.

The 1990's also experienced an influx of refugees coming from Bhutan as a reaction to the rise of King Jigme Singye Wangchuck. King Wangchuck passed several edicts that began an ethnic cleansing throughout the nation, resulting in refugees fleeing to America. Kawanda Q. Swafford studied into these refugees and found a few important results. Much like Vietnamese refugees, Bhutan refugees showed a heightened distrust in the police. Swafford says, "75% of incidents go unreported either because refugees fear retaliation, the distrust in police or the feeling that their complaints would not be taken seriously" (Swafford). Because they don't feel the police is not on their side, they undoubtedly have a heightened fear of the public. This has harsh impacts on the refugees' psyche.

Swafford also found a significant result; the study showed, "The suicide rate among Bhutanese refugees in the U.S. is 35 per 100,000, which is more than three times the national rate" (Swafford). Kathryn Falb, Marie McCormick, David Hemenway, and Jay Silverman expounded on this topic when they studied suicide rates among Bhutanese refugees. They found that women experiencing victimization were more likely to commit suicide than those not experiencing victimization, with 7.4% of victimized women committing suicide compared to the 5.1% of non-victimized women committing suicide. This highlights another influential factor in understanding refugee victimization; among refugees, women are disproportionately victimized.
Liz Miller looked into the problems female refugees face, focusing her studies on Sudanese refugees. Miller reported how female refugees face sexual victimization from three particular sources. They will face sexual violence in the war-torn country by soldiers aggressively taking to the females as they please. They also risk sexual violence in the hands of organizations trying to rescue them from the area. Men will find an opportunity to take advantage of refugees because there is little repercussions if caught. Finally, refugees also face sexual violence when arriving in America, because they are regarded as less-than-human.

Lydia Johnson also looked into gender-based violence among refugees, however, explored preventative methods to protect refugees from facing sexual violence. In her study, she identifies the biggest two problems in preventing gender-based violence is intervention and research. Johnson claims there is an inherent lack of call for grassroots workers to intervene in violence. Secondly, she identifies that there is a lack of research on the effectiveness of the intervention. Even if an organization calls for high levels of interventions, there is little data to support whether the organization follows through with intervening with violence.

The alternative method of decreasing victimization is to simply encourage refugees to engage with Americans, regardless of the harsh sentiment displayed for them. This is supported by the contact theory, which states that the more contact two groups have, the more likely they are to become tolerant of each other. James Hawdon disagrees with this theory in his book, The Causes, and Consequences of Group Violence: From Bullies to Terrorists. Hawdon explains that sexual victimization is a particular instance where contact theory utterly fails. He says, "With regard to genocide, evidence suggests that increased contact between groups has negative rather than positive outcomes" (Hawdon 77). Though sexual victimization cannot be stopped by contact theory, it is still unknown whether other forms of victimization can be stopped through contact theory.

Hypothesis

I believe that the study will yield mildly different results as opposed to previous refugee victimization results. Because American liberal society is aware of the constant struggle refugees face through outlets like John Oliver, I believe that victimization will be marginally lower for Syrian refugees. Whereas prior refugee groups had little media coverage, it is not difficult to find articles of Syrians or Muslims facing harsh sentiments from other Americans. As such, I believe that people will be more prone to identify victimization as it is occurring and intervene before violence breaks out. This, combined with contact theory, would generate a positive environment for refugees.

That being said, I do believe Syrian refugees will face a larger level of harassment than other victimized groups. Females, in particular, will likely face a stronger level of victimization as opposed to their male counterparts. I believe this would likely be a result over the Burqa Controversy. I believe that Syrian females will experience strong hatred for wearing their religious garb and that this hatred would not be alleviated through contact theory. I believe the staunchly patriotic sentiments Americans feel will reflect in their judgment of Muslim garb.

I believe there will be a correlation between levels of victimization and degrees of assimilation. Unlike other refugee groups, Syrians will face a harder time to assimilate to American culture. As Muslims build more mosques, I believe harsh sentiments against Muslims will increase. However, this could be balanced by increasing Syrian populations. As the population grows, the more political sway they have in elections. This would legitimize them as American citizens, the same way Cubans became a strong political group.

The final aspect I believe would influence victimization rate is Trump's presidency. Depending on the policies he wishes to pass, the country will have a shifted attitude towards refugees. During Bush's years, we were dragged into a war against "them" whom we falsely characterized as Muslims rather than extreme Islam. This same false characterization could occur under a Trump presidency, likely increasing victimization of refugees.

Possible Data Sources

If this study were to occur, it would be unwise to utilize the data sources currently available, such as NCVS and UCR. Both of these would be heavily skewed because refugees would likely not report crimes committed against them. Moreover, the census would likely not account for them, because they aren't registered citizens. Instead, it would be wise to conduct the survey through the same agencies that process refugees. Rather than using a sample size, one could easily utilize their databases to collect the contact information of refugees. From there, you can contact refugees and poll them on questions asking whether they feel they've been treated unfairly, unequally, or violently. This would be an open ended question for the refugees to explain instances in which they feel they've been a victim.

I would then return to the surveyed individuals every five years for fifteen years and ask the same questions and explanations. I would also ask any children or relatives of the family if they've experienced any victimization. This would allow you to make comparisons between the years and between the generations. Other questions to ask include whether they feel welcome in their community and whether they feel they've needed to adjust customs or cultural aspects to better assimilate into their community. This data would allow you to see how long negative sentiments last, whether or not contact theory dispels these sentiments, whether or not refugees feel obligated to Americanize or feel welcome to embrace their culture, and whether or not assimilation leads to decrease levels of victimization.

Implications

The results of this study would be significant in making refugee policy. One of the issues Germany faces with refugees is strong dissent against social programs for refugees. This study would be able to link this dissent with xenophobia or with other factors. This means American policy can adapt to best allow refugee assimilation into American society without compromising their fundamental beliefs. Moreover, this would allow us to know whether contact theory is a legitimate process to dispel xenophobia or enhance it. This also will chart the differences between how refugees are victimized over time, allowing further research and analysis to be able to link factors such as presiding party and economic growth to the victimization rate of refugees.

Works Cited

Bucher, Jacob, Michelle Manasse, and Beth Tarasawa. “UNDOCUMENTED VICTIMS: AN EXAMINATION OF CRIMES AGAINST UNDOCUMENTED MALE MIGRANT WORKERS.” Southwest Journal of Criminal Justice 7.2 (2010): 159–179. PDF.Falb, Kathryn L., Marie C. Mccormick, David Hemenway, Katherine Anfinson, and Jay G. Silverman. "Suicide Ideation and Victimization Among Refugee Women Along the Thai-Burma Border." Journal of Traumatic Stress 26.5 (2013): 631-35. Web.
Hawdon, James. The Causes and Consequences of Group Violence: From Bullies to Terrorists. Lanham: Lexington, 2014. Print.
Johnson, Lydia. "Gender-Based Violence in Immigrant & Refugee Communities: Devising Local Intervention Strategies in the Absence of Best Practice Research." University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 10 Dec. 2012.
Mcdonald, W. F., and E. Erez. "Immigrants as Victims: A Framework." International Review of Victimology 14.1 (2007): 1-10. Web.
Miller, Liz. "The Irony of Refuge: Gender-Based Violence against Female Refugees in Africa By Liz Miller." The Irony of Refuge: Gender-Based Violence against Female Refugees in Africa (n.d.): n. pag. University of Denver. University of Denver, 7 Dec. 2014. Web. 25 Nov. 2016.
Oliver, John. "Refugee Crisis: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)." Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. YouTube, 20 Sept. 2016. Web. 25 Nov. 2016.
Radelet, Michael L., and William Wilbanks. "Murder in Miami: An Analysis of Homicide Patterns and Trends in Dade County (Miami) Florida, 1917-1983." Contemporary Sociology 14.4 (1985): 463. Web.
Sawyer, Mark Q. Racial Politics in Post-revolutionary Cuba. New York: Cambridge UP, 2006. Print.
Song, John Huey-Long. "Attitudes of Chinese Immigrants and Vietnamese Refugees toward Law Enforcement in the United States." Justice Quarterly 9.4 (1992): 703-19. Web.
Swafford, Kawanda Q. "Victimization of Bhutanese Refugees." National Medical Fellowship (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 25 Nov. 2016.