USA Law

Latinos

Latinos in the United States

Latinos and the State Laws

Select from the list of U.S. States below for state-specific information on Latinos:

Latinos in State Statute Topics

Introduction to Latinos (State statute topic)

The purpose of Latinos is to provide a broad appreciation of the Latinos legal topic. Select from the list of U.S. legal topics for information (other than Latinos).

Resources

Further Reading

Latinos in relation to Crime and Race

Latinos is included in the Encyclopedia of Race and Crime (1), beginning with: Latina/o Americans constitute the fastest-growing pan-ethnic population group in the United States. These self-identified or otherwise identified Latina/o Americans have originated from, or are descendants from, a Spanish-speaking country and share, in some way, a colonial experience from Spain. Although they are homogenous in this sense, they are heterogeneous and diverse in national origin, generational status, geographic residence, Spanish-language capacity, and phenotypic features, as well as other socioeconomic factors. Because the growth of the Latina/o American population in the United States has outpaced other pan-ethnic groups in the general population, and the increasing numbers of Latina/o Americans in the incarcerated population, their immigration in sheer numbers and increasing diversity have caused social scientists, researchers, policymakers, and laypeople to recognize their impact on the criminal justice system.

Resources

Notes and References

  1. Entry about Latinos in the Encyclopedia of Race and Crime

See Also

Latinos Sentencing Disparities in relation to Crime and Race

Latinos Sentencing Disparities is included in the Encyclopedia of Race and Crime (1), beginning with: There is lingering debate as to whether or not the disproportionate sentencing of non-White convicted criminals to incarceration and for longer periods of time is due to legal or extralegal variables. Some investigators assert that much of the raci
al/ethnic disparity in criminal sentencing is accounted for by legal factors such as prior record, type and seriousness of offense, bail/bond amount, public defender versus private attorney, and so on. Others contend that racial/ethnic disparities in sentencing decisions are the outcome of systematic and institutionalized racial/ethnic discrimination that can be found at all levels of criminal justice decision making, from law enforcement to criminal processing and on to court adjudication. A fundamental issue that arises in this debate is whether or not non-Whites participate at higher rates of more-serious criminal activity than do Whites.

Resources

Notes and References

  1. Entry about Latinos Sentencing Disparities in the Encyclopedia of Race and Crime

See Also

Media Portrayals of Latinos in relation to Crime and Race

Media Portrayals of Latinos is included in the Encyclopedia of Race and Crime (1), beginning with: In recent decades, with regard to the topic of race and crime, the majority of scholarly and critical analyses of media portrayals have focused primarily on African Americans in relation to White Americans. However, a growing body of research activity has increasingly begun to explore media portrayals of Latinos and the effects of such portrayals on audience members. To date, U.S. media offerings have done a comparatively poor job in portraying Latina/o Americans in fair and diverse ways. At the same time, Latinos today represent the largest and fastest-growing minority group in the United States; additional care and effort devoted to portraying them more accurately will inform audience members about the diverse realities and lived experiences of members of this important demographic group.

Resources

Notes and References

  1. Entry about Media Portrayals of Latinos in the Encyclopedia of Race and Crime

See Also

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