Why Latino Youth (Don’t) Call Police

Latinos have been remarkably absent from research on the degree to which citizens notify police about violent crimes. This article takes a few small steps toward filling this knowledge gap through a case study of Mexican American youth in Little Village, the largest Mexican neighborhood in the Midwest. We ask: Why do some Latino youth notify police about violent crimes more than others? Using a unique survey data set of neighborhood youth (N = 292), we find that (1) the majority of youth in the sample do, in fact, notify police about violent crimes and (2) logistic regression models reveal the importance of social ties with gang members, negative past encounters with police, and immigration status as significant correlates of willingness to notify police about violent crimes. We conclude by discussing implications for research on Latino police notification and policy efforts to improve Latino community–police relations.