No English? You May Be Murdered

If you’re Latino, where you live and the thickness of your accent can make you more prone to be a victim of violence, even murder.

The statement is the result of a study published in the journal Homicide Studies (yes, there actually is a journal call that). The study, with a very long tittle, “Latino Immigration, Economic Deprivation and Violence: Regional Differences in the Effect of Linguistic Isolation,” found that Latinos are more likely to be murdered if they lack English language skills. I couldn’t make this stuff up, I’m not that cynical.

But it makes sense. Here’s why: the likelihood of being murdered if your English skills are bad increases in areas of the country where Latinos have settled recently; what the authors of the study call “new Latino destinations” (they make it sound like a summer resort).

The problem with these new Latino destinations is that “in these new outposts throughout the United States, Latinos live outside of the protective shell of old and established Latino immigrant communities in the Southwest, Florida, New York and Chicago, where Spanish is common and English is not necessary for routine tasks.” What ends up happening is that Latinos in new destinations end up living in social isolation, and that is why they are more likely to be murdered. It’s a statistical thing.

The authors of the study break that idea further into four specific reasons:

1. Latino migrants who are linguistically isolated are less able to grasp important cultural subtleties critical for their personal safety, like the cues that differentiate good areas from bad.

2. Because non-English speakers are less able to engage the formal economy, they carry large sums of cash instead, making them “walking ATMs” and easy prey for would-be robbers and other violent offenders.

3. Potential offenders themselves are further emboldened because non-English speaking Latinos are reluctant or unable to report the crime to formal authorities.

4. A large influx of Spanish-only speakers may generate hostility among the local, English-only constituency.

You can read a report about the study HERE.