Two Cambodians in Long Beach, California are brought up on misdemeanor cruelty-to-animal charges for slaughtering and eating a German Shepherd. Their defense was that eating dog meat is considered acceptable in their culture.
Source: Tempest, Rone. "Ancient Tradition vs. the Law." Los Angeles Times, February 18, 1993
In 1988 in Fresno, California, a Hmong (Laotian) immigrant
abducted a young Hmong woman from the Fresno City College campus and forced
her to become his wife. He waged a cultural defense in the courts
based on the fact that "marriage by capture" is common among his people.
Source: Tempest, Rone. "Ancient Tradition vs. the Law." Los Angeles Times, February 18, 1993
On an island near Taiwan, it is a custom for a father
to kiss his son's or daughter's genitals before family members to mark
the child's passage from infancy to childhood. It is not considered
a sexual gesture. An immigrant father in California who conducted
this ritual with his daughter was arrested years later, with the daughter
being put temporarily into foster care.
Source: Berger, Leslie. "Learning to Tell Custom From Abuse." Los Angeles Times, August 24, 1994
A Vietnamese immigrant woman was approached by police
because her son was coming to school with red streaks on his neck and temples,
and abuse was suspected. It was discovered that the marks were the
result of a practice called coining, whereby a heated coin or other piece
of metal is used to massage the skin of those with fevers and aches.
Source: Berger, Leslie. "Learning to Tell Custom From Abuse." Los Angeles Times, August 24, 1994
Two Iraqi immigrants, aged 34 and 28, married two
sisters aged 13 & 14 in Nebraska. The legal age for marriage
in Nebraska is 17. Both men were put in jail, charged with sexual
assault. The girls' father, who arranged the marriages, was charged
with child abuse. All the men claimed to be following Islamic cultural
practice, which supports arranged marriages, at a younger age than is common
in the U.S.
Source: Zeleny, Jeff. "Culture or Crime? Iraqi Men Unaware of Marriage Law." Lincoln Journal Star, Nov. 21, 1996At Harborview Hospital in Seattle, doctors were asked by a Somali woman to circumcise her infant daughter. Female circumcision is practiced in many African nations and is, in some cases, tied to a belief that it is healthy or that it is necessary to fulfill religious obligations. Others are opposed to it as a violation of human rights. Doctors investigated the practice and discovered that a minor form of the procedure would meet the woman's request and it would involve only a small cut in the genital area, leaving no permanent damage. When the public got word of it, the outcry was such that the hospital backed away from its plans.
Source: Ostrom, Carol M. "Harborview Debates Issue of Circumcision..." The Seattle Times, Sept. 13, 1996The Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. practices Santeria (a mixture of Catholicism and voodoo), which employs animal sacrifice (turtles, goats, and chickens mostly). Animals are killed, cooked and eaten after most major rituals. When the Church tried to establish a house of worship in Hialeah, Florida, the city protested on the grounds of animal cruelty and public health risk.
Source: "Santeria Gets Help in Court." Sun-Sentinel (Ft. Lauderdale), Nov. 2, 1992