Refraining from reporting crimes: accounts from young male crime victims with an immigrant background

Abstract

Interactions between the police and young people with an immigrant background are well researched internationally and are often discussed in the context of discrimination. Such interactions may explain, at least in part, why these young people do not report crimes to the police when they are the victims of crimes. This article reports accounts from young crime victims who have an immigrant background. The young men who were interviewed mainly portrayed their decisions not to notify the police in the context of masculinity discourse rather than using a discourse of discrimination, even though the interviewers asked specifically about whether discrimination or trust in the police influenced their decision. We argue that these young men’s accounts reflect their preferred self-presentations, since a dicriminination discourse may be tied to a victim identity that is incompatible with hegemonic masculinity.