NCJ Number
167002
Editor(s)
A S Lopez
Date Published
1995
Length
302 pages
Annotation
These 15 papers review the criminal justice system's historical handling of Hispanic Americans and critically examine the current legal system and research techniques, with emphasis on unfair handling by police, disparate sentencing, problems resulting from language barriers, and negative stereotypes in criminological research.
Abstract
Individual papers describe an 1890 murder case and the functions of the rule of law in power relationships between Hispanic and white residents of New Mexico, and examine the distorted images created in criminological theory construction and the differential handling of Hispanic Americans and white persons in case processing in Monterey County (Calif.). Additional papers examine the attitudes of Hispanics in Texas toward crime, the criminal justice system, and police performance; community and police conflict in a barrio in Southern California; the sentencing of white, black, and Mexican-origin defendants in El Paso, Tex. and Tucson, Ariz.; and unconscious racism in prosecuting racially motivated violence. Further papers compare pretrial release outcomes, convictions, and sentencing of Hispanics and whites in Tucson and El Paso, discuss issues affecting Spanish-speaking criminal defendants, challenge the view that barrio cultural values condone violence, examine bias in the juvenile justice system, and consider the impact Hispanic judges and attorneys can have on the criminal justice system. Tables, footnotes, and reference lists