Domestic Violence: GIobaI Respontes' pp. 93-1 13 O 2000 A B Academic Publishers Printed in Great Britain LIFETIME PREVALENCB OF VIOLENCE AGAINST LATINA IMMIGRANTS: LEGAL AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS' GISELLE AGUILARHASS*, MARY ANN DUTTONI ANd LESLYE E. ORLOFFN * American School of Professional Psychotogy, 1550 Wilson Blvd, Suite 600, Arlington,VA 22209, USA 7 Ciors| Wninston IJniversity, 2121 Eye Street, NW, WashingtoLD-.C. 2QQJ2,-USA t uovf rreot De"f"nse andEdu'cation Fund, ll0 Maryland Ave, NE,Suite 311, Washington, D.C., USA ABSTRACT Although domestic violence plagues communities oJall races, socio-economic status andgeo- eraohi;al locations, ro." .ornrn'unities within the U.S. are morevulnerable because victims' ;i;;;-fi;i;iiuing *itn theirabuser are more limited andtheyface more.obstacles to obtaining ttr.-urrl.t-.. they"need to escape the violence.. A particularly. vulnerable ql-o-yp -are Hispanic il"r{;;;";;ridirig in theU.S.who have been described asliving in more difficult conditions. Luiini i**rerants"and refugees face stresses of acculturation andlangu_agj.,.in addition to the fi*i.O "pp"?t"nities affordel to other ethnically_diverse groups in. theU.S. Thisarticle examines itt" oiiuufin.. of various forms of domestic violence experienced.by Latina immigrant women, ;i;; ffi;;'i,h"-Uuf.ring -d "*tt.*. cruelty they experience, and public po.licy implications of thehndinss. Undocumented and recently doiumented Latina women (n = 280) were interviewed ;ffilh;i;;-periences relating to domestic violence. A large proporti-on of thesurvey participants i";h; i'h;;" g;;ups (a8.0 p"r"Jnt; were undocumented, unpartnered (56.5-percent), andemployed tji.S i;i.iiii.-iarticiparits reportingbeing.in the.U.S, foian avera€e of 5.1 years. Based on their i"roonr.r.Darticipants were idLntifiid as 'Fhysically and,/or Sexually Abused' (n = 136)' 'Psycho- ffiilii;iil;.-affiiv't" = lj), or 'Non-Abised' (n = 107). Resulis showed that49.3pelcent of liiii^"i'.i"-tt-r"JottLO'ttuuing experienced physical abuse,-11.4 percent sexual abuse, 60'0per ;;i6;ft;;e/iiolarion-type-psyihological abuse, and 40.7percent emotionaVverbal+ype psy- cholosical abuse from an'iitirirale partier. Physically and/oi sexually abused women .report.ed ;trh;:'*;;;ir"".*i ivpir of dominance/isolation-compared to those in the psychologically u6"ffi;;; d;. ih61!;ere no differences berween the iwo groups in emotionaUverbal abuse. Fl;r;;Jil'dt;r'sexually abused women experienced morethreais, including threats-to harm ;hll;;;J;;h* iu*iiv in"ru.rs, to take thewoman's money' to call Immigration and Naturali- ;i;ffii.* iiNSl, i"O-t" lcltt'tre., compared to psychologically abused only women' The implication for policies related to battered immigrant women is discussed. INTRODUCTION In March 1998 the U.S. Department of Justice issued an Analysis of Data on Violence by Intimates (Bureiu of Justice Statistics, March 1998) which reports a decline in the number of female victims of intimate violence, from l.l million * Correspondence concerning this paper should be addressed to Giselle A Hass' 1550 Wilson Bouievard, Suite 600, Arlington, Vi222O9 or electronic mailmay besent to GHASS@erols'com'