Book Review: Hispanics in the U.S. criminal justice system: The new American demography

As much of the dialogue involving the criminal justice system has embodied practices, policies, and agendas specifically geared toward Caucasians and African Americans, the increasing Latino/Latina population has traditionally been overlooked. In Dr. Urbina’s text, Hispanics in the U.S. Criminal Justice System: The New Demography, he offers the reader a historical and in-depth analysis of Latino/Latinas from various perspectives within the criminal justice system. The author conveys his analysis in four sections focusing on the following:

Hispanics and the American police.

Latino/Latinas have represented a large majority of ethnic minorities represented within the nation since the early parts of the 20th century. Further, the significance of this is that it is presumed that as the Latino/Latina population continues to increase, their involvement in the criminal justice system will also increase. The irony is that despite being overlooked in most aspects of societal growth and development, Latino/Latinas have been quite instrumental in this country’s development in almost every facet.

In the text’s initial section, the author presents how being an ethnic minority can present various difficulties in adapting to the societal pressures within the United States. However, for those processed through the entire criminal justice system from arrest to postdisposition, they often find bias, mistreatment, and continuously increasing disparities, particularly in relation to capital punishment (Urbina & Byxbe, 2011).

Urbina (2012) traces much of the animosity and bias directed at Latino/Latinas by law enforcement officials from the societal hatred conveyed to them stemming from the Mexican Revolution (Acuña, 2010; McWilliams, 1990), which was a clear and visible “race war.” He further expands on the language used to describe early Latino/Latinas by early Texas and Arizona Rangers in the early 20th century. Such inflammatory descriptions have carried over to present day law enforcement officials and persons with negative sentiments toward Latino/Latinas. You see such examples from modern day U.S. Border Patrol Agents to the Minutemen to the more visible Sheriff Joe Arpaio from Arizona. The section provides more historical references as to the overt hatred perpetrated by persons in power, particularly as it relates to abuses from profiling to brutal crime control policies.

Section 2 begins with an analysis of the mistreatment and violations of Mexicans by policy makers as well as law enforcement across the southwestern borders of the United States. This targeted practice, clearly not a new phenomenon, has been an issue starting in the 19th century and into present times. Urbina (2012) expands on such significance as this population has been largely overlooked by criminal justice researchers and scholars. From a colonial perspective, it shows how the dominant culture, at that time being the Anglo-Americans, not only dominated the subordinate group (Mexicans), but exploited them. This has not been more evident or poignant than what is seen, discussed, and debated today with undocumented workers, paths to citizenship, and immigration policies.

The author further expands on the executions, lynchings, and expulsions of Mexicans during this period. Mexicans were also punished and executed at far greater rates than Anglos with similar charges (Urbina, 2012). Systematically, Mexicans were treated as lower class with limited viable outlets to secure legal counsel or judiciary support.

Urbina (2012) highlights the perpetuation of stereotypes of Latino/Latinas, specifically, Mexicans throughout popular culture. The criminalizing of ethnic identities is not a new tactic or practice by dominant groups of society. Those with power and influence have historically provided input and influence to various media and entertainment outlets to promote negative imagery of ethnic groups. It has been witnessed with African Americans as well as other ethnic groups.

For examples, past and recent negative images include bandana toting Chicanos with fedoras and zoot suits during the 1960s, or even present day Latino/Latinas with gang colors. More recently, Hollywood has consistently portrayed Latino/Latinas as drug dealers, pimps, or gang members. Being bombarded with such images ingrains these images into the minds of citizens that know very little about Latino/Latinas. This, in turn, translates into the mind-set of those same persons who then become police officers, prosecutors, judges, and politicians. If this is their sole education about a race or ethnic group, it creates a very jaded and skewed reality of what those ethnic groups represent. The chapter further expands on the issues presented in Arizona’s SB 1070 bill as well the manipulation of the Fourth Amendment and protections of Latinos and Latinas.

Section 3 provides the reader with an in-depth overview of Hispanics and the penal system. The punishment versus rehabilitation debate has continued among social scientists and criminal justice professionals. Despite the debates, historically speaking, the prison system has systematically continued to incarcerate an increasing amount of poor Caucasians and minorities, especially African Americans and Latinos. From colonialism to conquest, the author reminds the reader that much of the criminal justice policies to date, including the penal system, have deep roots in early colonialism.

From a systematic to cultural perspective, minorities continue to largely represent most of those incarcerated population. Urbina (2012) discusses the impediments faced by Latinos and African American defendants released back into society. With little to no formal vocational training, education, or treatment interventions (substance abuse/mental health) those released back into society are often worse off than when initially arrested and sentenced.

Legal impediments from gaining certain licenses or rights further restrict defendants from successfully integrating back into society. Thus, their options are limited and they sometimes return to crime. For many, housing becomes a critical issue for successful reentry as depending on the state, will bar those convicted of felonies from applying for housing in respective apartment communities, whether public or private. One of the distinct concerns faced by formerly incarcerated Latino/Latinas is the constant fear of deportation. For those not U.S.-born, according to Urbina (2012), many fear being deported and separated from their families. Unfortunately, even for the legalized citizen, the possibility of deportation exists if convicted of a crime.

This section of the text concludes reviewing some effective ways to assist Latino/Latinas from successfully reintegrating back into society. Similarly, to reentry efforts across the board, the programmatic and interventive approaches are critical in defendants transitioning back into the community, albeit, strong community supports are an invaluable component.

Section 4 of the text focuses on globalization from five areas: (1) The American way, (2) war on drugs, (3) illegal alien ideology, (4) National Security Propaganda, and (5) knowledge. Urbina (2012) begins the chapter discussing how as Americans, the 21st century presents so much promise for growth, advancement, and opportunities. In looking at the political climate with conflicting interests finding common ground appears difficult. From debates on immigration, to gun control, the American public becomes the unfortunate recipients of policies or politics created to benefit some while minimizing the constructive growth of others.

In expanding on the perpetual war on drugs, the text expands on the numerous policies coming out of the 1980s (Anti-Drug Acts of 1986, 1988) to increase the resources provided to law enforcement agencies as well as extending judicial powers in mandatory sentencing practices. Such practices led to an overwhelming amount of Latino/Latinas being incarcerated, tripling the inmate population from 162 to 529 per 100,000 Latino residents during 1980–1993 (Urbina, 2012).

This mass incarceration creates a permanent underclass for Latino/Latinas nationwide, hence, greatly affecting their ability in contributing constructively to the country. Once incarcerated, obtaining licenses, voting, housing, and possible deportation for non-U.S. citizens becomes more of their reality. Despite other racial groups facing similar punishments for criminal actions, Latino/Latinas, particularly those who are not U.S. citizens face the ultimate consequence of being deported, in some instances to third-world countries away from their families.

As the author then transitions to illegal alien ideologies and misrepresentations of Latinos, this area is quite timely as immigration continues to be a very hot issue today. As this ideology has been largely associated with criminalization and the demonizing of foreigners, not just Latino/Latinas, it provides the platform to associate all Latino/Latinas and their respective ethnic orientations as criminals, drug couriers, and most importantly illegal aliens. Dr. Urbina (2012) makes a strong argument in reference to this thought process. In his view, once these images are accepted, or legitimized, they then become institutionalized.

Dr. Urbina’s text provides the reader an extremely detailed account of how Latino/Latinas have been targeted, misidentified, and categorized to the extent that a large segment of society within the United States views them as a group of criminals and freeloaders. The book highlights the many injustices experienced by Latino/Latinas, but also expands on their multitude of contributions within the United States. For lower- and upper-level courses that deal with critically analyzing the criminal justice from an ethnic perspective would greatly benefit from adopting this text. Further courses within Sociology and Criminology/Criminal Justice programs that expand their instruction to areas that deal with macro-analytical discussions on the administration of justice would also see this textbook as quite useful.