Case Study: Cross-Cultural Stereotypes

Case Study: 1

Running head: CASE STUDY: CROSS-CULTURAL STEREOTYPES

Case Study: Cross-Cultural Stereotypes

Joleen Joiner

Kaplan University

CJ246

Human Relations in a Diverse Society

John Preston

Case Study: 1

Case Study: Cross-Cultural Stereotypes

Whenever a crime is committed, law enforcement officers are usually the first to arrive on the scene and to interact with victims. Law enforcement officers have more contact with crime victims than any other criminal justice professional. This makes their role critical and puts them in a unique position to assist victims immediately after the crime and encourage and facilitate victim participation in the criminal justice system. The initial response to a victim will have a long-lasting impact on that individual’s view of the justice system and participation in the investigation and prosecution of the crime. The first response also is a key factor in whether or not a victim ultimately accesses needed services and assistance, such as crisis intervention, counseling, financial compensation, information, referrals to community programs, and help in navigating the justice process.

American policing is facing a tremendous challenge, a widespread perception that the police are routinely guilty of bias in how they treat racial minorities. Racial and ethnic minorities constitute a substantial and growing segment of the U.S. population. Strength is in diversity, and the police look to minority communities to participate fully and the police look to minority communities to participate fully in all aspects of society. Police are now looking to the public for partnerships and collaborative problem solving solutions to community ills. If substantial segments of the community are the victims of police bias, or even perceive that they are, the likelihood of success is dim.

Some of the common stereotypes and communication styles that affect cross cultural contact that police officers and civilian employees have with citizens, victims, suspects, and co workers are racial discrimination, cultural differences, language barriers, distrust among both sides, respect towards each other, and attitudes each side has with each other. When police officers and other agencies are willing to learn about other cultures, other languages, and do not have any racial biases towards others just may help with helping other cultures in respecting them.

Some stereotypes that officers may encounter with other cultures may be racial profiling. Racial profiling is any police initiated action that relies on the race, ethnicity, or national origin rather than the behavior of an individual or on information that leads the police to a particular individual who has been identified as being, or having been, engaged in criminal activity. When officers are called to a community of other cultures, then they assume that because they are different, then there is a problem.

When police officers and other agencies do not understand the culture of Asian/Pacific Americans, all kinds of problems can occur. The miscommunication can lead to family’s children taken away or one of the family members ending up in jail. Some of police assume that someone who isn’t of their culture they are different, criminals, or even liars. According to Benjamin Bowling (1999), “As a result of racist stereotypes, the victims are unlikely to be seen as ‘good witnesses’. It is a widely-held belief within the police service that Asian people tend to lie” (Bowling, 1999).

Within the first scenario, Seng Chang and Kaying Lor had their four children taken away from them because of a cultural misunderstanding. The authorities came in to their lives because of some bruising on the children. The bruising came from a medical practice that they have used in their family for years to help cure their children of sickness. The schools, police, courts, and Child Protective Services did not know that Asian/Pacific Americans used alternative medical practices in their countries. If all of these agencies would just take some time to learn, understand, and believe in other cultures instead of just their own, then some of these misunderstandings may never take place. The prosecutors in this case had some medical experts review the case and check over the child, and determined that there were no signs of child abuse. When the court decided that there were no signs of child abuse, the prosecutor dismissed the charges against Seng Chang and Kaying Lor of child abuse and returned the children.

In the second scenario, a nineteen year old African American male was jogging in a neighborhood, which was mostly upper-middle class. He was stopped and questioned by different officers within a two week period. The officers stopped and questioned him, because he was African American and they felt that he didn’t belong in that neighborhood. If the officers weren’t racial bias, then they would have realized that he just may have belonged in that neighborhood. Just because someone is a different color, or race then the community, doesn’t mean that they do not belong there. If the officers would have made a report or even let the other officers know about this particular neighborhood, then this individual may not have been stopped so many times in a two week period. The individual proved that he lived in the neighborhood, so that should have been enough for officers to realize that he was not there because he felt like it.

If officers and other agencies would just take the time to learn that other cultures live amongst other cultures, then a lot of the diversity may come to an end. When officers and other agencies stereotype individuals it becomes a problem for innocent individuals.

It is very important for officers, civilian employees, citizens, victims, and co workers to know that there are other cultures including language, medical practices, and verbal and nonverbal communication difference, because this is America and not everyone lives in one culture or comes from one area of the world. It is the responsibility for officers and civilian employees to learn about other cultures, languages, and other methods of individuals that live here in America, because they are the ones that come in contact with these individuals all the time. It may be for police to just stop in a neighborhood to make sure everything is fine, to child protective services making sure that children are receiving everything that they need. School employees also need to learn about the differences in cultures, so that there is no misunderstandings of the way individuals raise their children.

When a victim needs an officer, they want the officer to listen to them and make sure that they get the medical treatment that they need. They do not want the officers or others to feel sorry for them, the only thing that people want is for someone to listen to them and not make judgments bases on race, culture, or religion.

References

Bowling, B. (1999). Violent Racism. Oxford University Press. Retrieved July 7, 2009, from web site: http://books.google.com/books?id=lEJuzuAGYpcC&pg=PA297&lpg=PA297&dq=common+stereotypes+of+asians+with+police&source=bl&ots=GQL0gcm4fN&sig=Ezxm3Jb8v_FNg3sRR3HHuAJPaMg&hl=en&ei=uctTStmvDpXDtwfezJ2hCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2, www.oup.com.

Shusta et al… (2008). Multicultural Law Enforcement, 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall.