(A)  Many noncitizens endured extreme trauma in their home countries.  Many immigrants leave their country because they are forced to do so.  Many clients have survived extreme poverty, or, in areas of war or human rights abuses, the deaths or assassinations of family members or friends, sightings of dead bodies in the street, fear of attack by government, death squad or guerrilla forces, forced relocation, and the stress caused by such events.  Refugee camps in Central America and Asia can be frightening places subject to military attack and inadequate food supply.  Studies have shown that a large percentage of immigrants — even those not coming from areas of war — suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome; immigration is itself a traumatic event.  Often people do not want to discuss events in the home country, but counsel should assume, for example, that any person from El Salvador or Guatemala — like any veteran of the Vietnam War — has experienced trauma.

 

Other

BIBLIOGRAPHY
L. FRIEDMAN RAMIREZ, ED., CULTURAL ISSUES IN CRIMINAL DEFENSE (2d ed. 2007).

CRIMINAL DEFENSE - INVESTIGATION
A. Renteln, Raising Cultural Defenses, in L. FRIEDMAN RAMIREZ, ED., CULTURAL ISSUES IN CRIMINAL DEFENSE 423 (2d ed. 2007).

CRIMINAL DEFENSE - INVESTIGATION
J. Connell, Using Cultural Experts, in L. FRIEDMAN RAMIREZ, ED., CULTURAL ISSUES IN CRIMINAL DEFENSE 467 (2d ed. 2007).