Criminal Victimization and Legal Challenges of Migrants in Developed Countries: A Critical Analysis

This article examines migrant victimization as a structural outcome of migration governance systems in developed countries. This study demonstrates that variations in enforcement intensity, labor-market segmentation, and procedural safeguards explain cross-regional differences in exposure to harm and access to justice, thereby reframing migrant victimization as a governance-dependent outcome rather than an individual-level vulnerability. Criminal victimization remains an under-explored facet of migration dynamics in developed countries, despite migrants’ overrepresentation as victims. Legal scholarship on this topic is exceptionally limited and primarily focused on refugee protection. The victimization of migrants at the hands of individuals, groups, and authorities is therefore examined with the aim of informing research agendas, policy debates, and international cooperation. The assessment proceeds in six steps. First, migrant victimization patterns are outlined according to crime type, drawing on the European Union, the United States, and the Global South as contextual frames. Next, legal definitions and protections are distinguished from victimization levels, with the international legal framework and the concept of safe access to justice underscored. Then, broader systemic drivers and comparative factors influencing victimization patterns are investigated, again through the lens of the European Union, North America, Western Europe, and Oceania. Fourth, considerations relevant to the study of migrant victimization are reviewed, including methodological challenges, variations in legal terminology, underlying fieldwork orientations, and the availability of prior research. This study argues that migrant victimization is best understood as a structural product of migration governance regimes, where enforcement design, legal stratification, and labor-market segmentation systematically shape exposure to harm and access to justice.