Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Latino/as and U.S. Prisons

Trends and Challenges

  • Chapter
Book cover Behind Bars

Abstract

Already the country with the highest rate of incarceration in the world, the United States continues to steadily increase its prison population on an annual basis (Harrison and Beck 2006b). At year-end 2005, persons held in all U.S. federal and state prisons, territorial prisons, local jails, immigration facilities, military facilities, jails under Native American jurisdiction, and juvenile facilities totaled 2,320,359 (Harrison and Beck2006b, 1). Concomitant with the alarming expansion of the U.S. prison population is the issue that the drive to incarcerate most adversely affects communities of color, including Latino/as (Mauer 1999; Human Rights Watch 2002; Sentencing Project 2003; Walker et al. 2004; Morïn 2009). While the overall percentage of the adult population in state or federal prisons increased dramatically between 1971 and 2001, Latino/as experienced a ten-fold increase in incarceration (Bonczar 2003, 5). Based on data from the U.S. Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (Harrison and Beck 2002), the Sentencing Project (2003, 1) points out that “Hispanics are the fastest growing group being imprisoned.”1

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Rererences

  • Acuna, Rodolfo. 2007. Occupied America: A history of Chicanos. 6th ed. New York: Pearson Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Albonetti, Celesta A. 1997. Sentencing under the federal sentencing guidelines: Effects of defendant characteristics, guilty pleas, and departures on sentence outcomes for drug offenses, 1991–1992. Law & Society Review 31(4): 789–8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Amnesty International. 1998. United States of America: Rights for all. New York: Amnesty International Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, Allen J., and Paige M. Harrison. 2001. Prisoners in 2000, NCJ 188207. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beckett, Katherine. 1997. Making crime pay: Law and order in contemporary American politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beckett, Katherine, and Theodore Sasson. 2004. The politics of injustice: Crime and punishment in America. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bender, Steven W. 2003. Greasers and gringos: Latinos, law and the American imagination. New York: New York University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonczar, Thomas P. 2003. Prevalence of imprisonment in the U.S. population, 1974–2001. NCJ 197976. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2000. Sourcebook of criminal justice statistics, 1999. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butcher, Kristin F., and Anne Morrison Piehl. 2005. Why are immigrants1 incarceration rates so low? Evidence on selective immigration, deterrence, and deportation. Chicago: Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. http://www.chicagofed.org/publications/workingpapers/ wp2005_19.pdf (accessed June 17,2007).

    Google Scholar 

  • Catalano, Shannan M. 2006. Criminal victimization, 2005: National Crime Victimization Survey, NCJ 2146644. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cole, David. 1999. No equal justice: Race and class in the American criminal justice system. New York: New Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cole, David. 2001. Formalism realism, and the war on drugs. Suffolk University Law Review 35: 241–55.

    Google Scholar 

  • Demuth, Stephen, and Darrell Steffensmeier. 2004. Ethnicity effects on sentencing outcomes in large urban courts: Comparisons among white, black and Hispanic defendants. Social Science Quarterly 85: 994–1011.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diaz-Cotto, Juanita. 2006. Chicana Jives and crimin adjustice: Voices fromelharr to. Austin: University of Texas Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ditton, Paula M., and Doris James Wilson. 1999. Truth in sentencing in state prisons: Bureau of Justice Statistics special report (January 1999), NCJ 170032. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donziger, Steven R., ed. 1996. The real war on crime: The report of the National Criminal Justice Commission. New York: Harper Perennial.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dorfman, Lori, and Vincent Schiraldi. 2001. Off balance: Youth, race and crime in the news. Washington, D.C.: Building Blocks for Youth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dow, Mark. 2004. American gulag: Inside U.S. immigration prisons. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellis, Edwin. 1993. The non-traditional approach to criminal justice and social justice. Harlem: Community Justice Center, mimeographed, 8 pages.

    Google Scholar 

  • Escobar, Edward J. 1999. Race, police, and the making of apolitical identity: Mexican Americans and the Los Angeles Police Department 1900–1945. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Federal Bureau of Investigation. 2006. Preliminary semiannual uniform crime report, January-June 2006. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freidman, Warren, and Martha Hott. 1995. Young people and the police: Respect, fear and the future of community policing in Chicago. Chicago: Chicago Alliance for Neighborhood Safety.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garland, David, ed. 2001a. Mass imprisonment Social causes and consequences. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garland, David. 2001b. The culture of control: Crime and social order in contemporary society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hagan, John, and Alberto Palloni. 1999. Sociological criminology and the mythology of Hispanic immigration and crime. Social Problems 46(4): 617–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hall, Kermit, L., William M. Wiecek, and Paul Finkelman. 1996. American legal history: Cases and materials. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haney Lopez, Ian F. 1996. White by law: The legal construction of race. New York: New York University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haney Lopez. 2003. Racism on trial: The Chicano fight for justice. Cambridge, MA: Belknap/Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris, David A. 2002. Profiles in injustice: Why racial profiling cannot work. New York: New Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrison, Paige M., and Allen J. Beck. 2002. Prisoners in 2001, NCJ 195189. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrison, Paige. 2005. Prisoners in 2004. NCJ 210677. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrison, Paige. 2006a. Prison and jail inmates at midyear 2005. NCJ 213133. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrison, Paige. 2006b. Prisoners in 2005. NCJ 215092. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Healey, Joseph F. 2007. Race, ethnicity, gender, and class in the United States: Inequality, group conflict, and power. 4th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Horsman, Reginald. 1981. Race and manifest destiny: Origins of American racial Anglo-Saxonism. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Human Rights Watch. 1998. Shielded from justice: Police brutality and accountability in the United States. New York: Human Rights Watch.

    Google Scholar 

  • Human Rights. 2002. Race and incarceration in the United States: Human Rights Watch briefing. New York: Human Rights Watch, http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/usa/race/pdf/race-bck.pdf (accessed January 5, 2007).

    Google Scholar 

  • Human Rights. 2003. Incarcerated America: Human rights watch backgrounder. New York: Human Rights Watch.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobson, Michael. 2005. Downsizing prisons: How to reduce crime and end mass incarceration. New York: New York University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, Kevin R. 2003. The case for African American and Latino/a cooperation in challenging racial profiling in law enforcement. Florida Law Review 55:341–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamasaki, Charles. 2002. Testimony on drug sentencing and its effects on the Latino community, February 25, 2002. Presented before the United States Sent encing Commission, Washington D.C. http://search.netscape.com/ns/boomframe.jsp?query=Kamasaki&page=4& offset=0&result_url=redir%3Fsrc%3Dwebsearch%26requestId%3D685b03bdf7716d6 %26clickedItemRank%3D47%26userQuery%3DKamasaki%26clickedItemURN%3Dh ttp%253A%252F%252FError! Hyperlink reference not valid..PDF%26invocationType%3Dnext%26fromPage%3DNSCPNextPrevB%26amp%3Ba mpTest%3Dl&remove_url=http%3A%2F%2FError! Hyperlink reference not valid.2%2Fkamasaki.PDF (accessed January 5, 2007).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kocieniewski, David, and Robert Hanley. 2000. Racial profiling was routine. New York Times, November 28.

    Google Scholar 

  • LaFree, Gary, K. Drass, and P. O’Day. 1992. Race and crime in post-war America: Determinants of African American and white rates, 1957–1988. Criminology 30:157–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leonhardt, David. 2007. Immigrants and prison, New York Times., May 30. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/3 0/business/30leonside.html?ex= 118429920 0&en=e3 50a7f3a74 35f38&ei=5070 (accessed: July 8, 2007

  • Martinez, Elizabeth. 1993. Beyond black/white: The racisms of our time. Social Justice 20(1-2): 22–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mauer, Marc. 1999. Race to incarcerate. New York: The New Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mauer, Marc, Cathy Potier, and Richard Wolf. 1999. Gender and justice: Women, drugs, and sentencingpo/icy. Washington, D.C.: The Sentencing Project.

    Google Scholar 

  • McWilliams, Carey. 1948/1990. North from Mexico: The Spanish-speaking people of the United States. New York: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Méndez-Méndez, Serafin, and Diana Alverio. 2003. Network brownout 2003: The portrayal of Latinos in network television news, 2002. Washington, D.C.: National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mirandé, Alfredo. 1987. Gringo justice. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moran, Rachel F. 1997. Neither black nor white. Harvard Latino Law Review 2:61–99.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morin, José Luis. 2009. Latino/a rights and justice in the United States: Perspectives and approaches. 2nd ed. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mumola, Chrisopher J. and Allen J. Beck. 1997. Prisoners in 1996. NCJ 164619. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Office of National Drug Control Policy. 2003. Minorities and drugs. Washington, D.C.: Office of National Drug Control Policy.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olivas, Michael A., ed. 2006. “Colored men” and “hombres aqui”: Hernandez v. Texas and the emergence of Mexican-American lawyering. Houston, TX: Arte Publico Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oquendo, Angel. 1996. Colloquium proceeding: Comments by Angel Oquendo. La Raza Law Journal 9:43–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pastor, Manuel, Jr. 1993. Latinos and the L.A. uprising. Tomas Rivera Center Study, Los Angeles, California.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perea, Juan F., Richard Delgado, Angela P. Harris, and Stephanie M. Wildman. 2000. Race and races: Cases and resources for a diverse America. St. Paul, MN: West Group.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rennison, Callie Marie and Michael R. Rand. 2003. Criminal victimization, 2002: Bureau of Justice Statistics National Crime Victimization Survey (August 2003), NCJ 199994. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Riley, K. Jack. 1997. Crack, powder cocaine, and heroin: Drug purchase and use patterns in six US. cities. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rivera Ramos, Efrén. 2001. The legal construction of identity: The judicial and social legacy of American colonialism in Puerto Rico. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rumbaut, Ruben, Roberto G. Gonzales, Golnaz Komaie, Charlie V. Morgan, and Rosaura Tafoya-Estrada. 2006. Immigration and incarceration: Patterns and predictors of imprisonment among first-and second generation young adults. In Immigration and crime: Race, ethnicity, and violence, ed. Ed. Ramiro Martinez, Jr., and Abel alenzuela, Jr., 64–89. New York: New York University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sampson, Robert J., and Janet L. Lauritsen. 1997. Racial and ethnic disparities in crime and criminal justice in the United States. In Ethnicity, crime, and immigration: Comparative and cross-national perspectives, ed. Michael Tonry, 311–74. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sentencing Project. 2003. Hispanic prisoners in the United States. Washington, D.C.: Sentencing Project,.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simon, Jonathan. 2007. Governing through crime: How the war on crime transformed American democracy and created a culture of fear. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spitzer, Elliot. 1999. The New York City Police Department’s “stop and frisk” practices: A report to the people of the state of New York from the attorney general. New York: Civil Rights Bureau.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spohn, Cassia C. 2000. Thirty years of sentencing reform: The quest for a racially neutral sentencing process. In Criminal Justice 2000, Vol. 3, 427–80. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steffensmeier, Darrell, and Stephen Demuth. 2000. Ethnicity and sentencing in U.S. federal courts: Who is punished more harshly? American Sociological Review 65:705–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steffensmeier, Darrell. 2001. Ethnicity and judges1 sentencing decisions: Hispanic-black-white comparisons. Criminology 39:145–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stephanson, Anders. 1995. Manifest destiny: American expansion and the empire of right. New York: Hill and Wang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. 2002. Results from the 2001 national household survey on drug abuse: Volume 1. Summary of national findings. NHSDA Series H-17, DHHS Publication No. SMA 02–3758. Rockville, MD: Office of Applied Studies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tonry, Michael. 2005. Maligned neglect Race, crime and punishment in America. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Travis, Jeremy. 2005. But they all come back: Facing the challenges of prisoner reentry. Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. 2000. Police practices and civil rights in New York City: A report of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Commission on Civil Rights

    Google Scholar 

  • United States Sentencing Commission. 2001. 2001 sourcebook of federal sentencing statistics. Washington, D.C.: United States Sentencing Commission.

    Google Scholar 

  • Villarruel, Francisco A., and Nancy E. Walker, with Pamela Minifree, Omara Rivera-Vazquez, Susan Peterson, and Kristen Perry. 2002. Dônde esta la justicia? A call to action on behalf of Latino and Latina youth in the US. justice system. Washington, D.C.: Michigan State University/Building Blocks for Youth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wacquant, Loïc. 2001. Deadly symbiosis: When ghetto and prison meet and mesh. In Mass imprisonment Social causes and consequences, ed. Garland, David, 82–120. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker, Samuel, Miriam Delone, and Cassia Spohn. 2007. The color of justice: Race, ethnicity, and crime in America. 4th ed. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker, Nancy, E., J. Michael Senger, Francisco A. Villarruel, and Angela M. Arboleda. 2004. Lost opportunities: The reality of Latinos in the U.S. criminal justice system. Washington, D.C.: National Council of La Raza.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weitzer, Ronald. 1999. Citizens’ perceptions of police misconduct: Race and neighborhood context. Justice Quarterly 16:819–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weitzer, Ronald, and Steven A. Tuch. 2006. Race and policing in America: Conflict and reform. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Western, Bruce. 2006. Punishment and inequality in America. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zatz, Marjorie S., and Richard P. Krecker, Jr. 2003. Anti-gang initiatives as racialized policy. In Crime control and social justice: The delicate balance, ed. Darnell F. Hawkins, Samuel L. Meyers Jr., and Randolph N. Stone, 173–196. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. José Luis Morín
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Suzanne Oboler

Copyright information

© 2009 Suzanne Oboler

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Morín, J.L. (2009). Latino/as and U.S. Prisons. In: Oboler, S. (eds) Behind Bars. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230101470_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation