Latino Criminology in the United States

Latino Criminology in relation to Crime and Race

Latino Criminology is included in the Encyclopedia of Race and Crime (1), beginning with: The incorporation of Latinas and Latinos in criminological research is important because the Latina/o population is now the second largest group in the United States. It is also important to include Latinos since there are considerable race and ethnic disparities in violence across the nation. For example, Latinos were 3 times more likely than non-Latina/o Whites to be a victim of homicide but almost 3 times less likely than Blacks to be killed. National crime victimization surveys indicate that Latinos and Blacks were victims of robbery at similarly high rates, but, Latinos were victims of aggravated assault at a level in line with Whites and Blacks. These differences are a reminder that criminological research on racial and ethnic variations in crime must incorporate Latinos and consider variations within Latina/o groups in order to fully understand group differences in criminal and delinquent behavior.

Resources

Notes and References

1. Entry about Latino Criminology in the Encyclopedia of Race and Crime

See Also