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Latino Crime and Latinos in the Criminal Justice System: Trends, Policy Implications, and Future Research Initiatives

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Abstract

With exponential growth in the Latino population over the past decade, both social scientists and politicians have directed their attention toward understanding Latino behavior(s) ranging from purchasing power and marketing to voting. Less is known, however, about the extent to which Latino population growth might be associated with patterns of criminal justice or violent criminal outcomes. One objective of this research is to provide a contemporary overview of the Latino experiences with the criminal justice system by highlighting racial/ethnic disparities in incarceration and sentencing. Using racial-/ethnic-specific homicide victimization data provided by the Centers for Disease Control, we also examine the impact of Latino concentration on levels of group-specific homicide, both regionally and nationally. Results from our negative binomial multivariate analyses indicate that the concentration of Latinos tends to be associated with lower levels of homicide victimization, a finding that holds across racial/ethnic groups and geographic specification. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of these findings with an eye toward future research in this area.

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Notes

  1. http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html, 2010. See also Owens (2010).

  2. U.S. Census Bureau, 1970, 1980, 1990, and 200 Decennial Censuses; Population Projections, July 1, 2010–July 1, 2050.

  3. U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates July 1, 2006.

  4. U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates July 1, 2000–July 1, 2006.

  5. Previous research that focuses on the immigration/crime link, though it does not make use of racially/ethnically disaggregated dependent variables, does not offer any reason to anticipate substantively different effects by crime type (see Reid et al. 2005; Stowell 2007).

  6. Model diagnostics did not indicate the presence of highly intercorreleated independent variables. All Variance Inflation Factors (VIFs) were under 3.

  7. http://tucsoncitizen.com/mark-evans/archives/236 (Retrieved August 15, 2011).

  8. The states that experienced hyper-Latino growth are Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Dakota, and Tennessee.

  9. For a detailed discussion of Latino growth, particularly among Southern States, see Kochar et al. 2005.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Jacob I. Stowell & Ramiro Martinez Jr.

  2. Department of Criminal Justice, Texas State University-San Marcos, San Marcos, TX, USA

    Jeffrey M. Cancino

Authors
  1. Jacob I. Stowell
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  2. Ramiro Martinez Jr.
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  3. Jeffrey M. Cancino
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Correspondence to Jacob I. Stowell.

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Stowell, J.I., Martinez, R. & Cancino, J.M. Latino Crime and Latinos in the Criminal Justice System: Trends, Policy Implications, and Future Research Initiatives. Race Soc Probl 4, 31–40 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-012-9067-5

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