The New Juan Crow? Unpacking the Links Between Discrimination and Crime for Latinxs

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of various types of discrimination, including injustices from the police, as well as the conditioning effects of a positive ethnic identity on the likelihood of offending for Latinxs. Findings support the notion that discrimination from the police and everyday microaggressions are significant strains for Latinxs that increase their likelihood of offending. Anger is also found to be a significant driving factor. This study additionally adds to the growing body of mixed results around the impacts of ethnic identity, particularly for Latinxs, as it does not protect against the effects of discrimination for the current sample. This work is timely in the wake of the recent rhetoric around immigration, particularly from Latin American countries. With the rapid rise in Latinx incarceration, it is vital we understand the distinct factors that impact their likelihood of contact with the justice system to develop culturally competent intervention policies and counter the institutional racism driving the disparities.

An Expanded Analytical Gaze on Penal Power: Border Criminology and Punitiveness

“…In this regard, the gendered consequences of bordered penality are an underexplored dimension of current border criminology debates (see though Dingeman et al 2017;Golash-Boza and Hondagneu-Sotelo 2013;Hartry 2012;Matos 2016). By contrast, a burgeoning literature has scrutinised race and the racial stratifications underpinning, and being cemented by, recent immigration enforcement policies (see Bhui 2016;Bosworth, Parmar and Vázquez 2018;Isom Scott 2020;Parmar 2020). However, this race-based perspective needs to be further teased out through cross-national research.…”

A Gendered Look at Latinx General Strain Theory

“…Finally, of central importance to our gendered analysis is the varied effects of ethnic identity. The research is mixed on the role of ethnic identity with some suggesting that a positive ethnic identity protects one from the negative effects of discrimination for Latinxs (Martinez & Dukes, 1997) and other studies finding null effects (Arbona et al, 1999; Isom Scott, 2020). Our findings suggest these varied effects may be rooted in gender, as positive ethnic identity only partially mitigates the associations between varied strains and serious offending for Latinas and Latinos.…”

“…Census Bureau, 2019), they are projected to account for nearly 30% by 2060 (Stepler & Brown, 2016). More recently, research has begun to bring Latinxs to the forefront of criminological studies (e.g., Alvarez-Rivera et al, 2014; Isom Scott, 2018b, 2020; López & Pasko, 2017; Miller & Gibson, 2011); however, much of the scholarship still focuses exclusively on the differences between Blacks and Whites with very little attention on the effects for other people of Color (Schuck et al, 2004). Of the research that has focused on Latinxs, it has primarily centered on macro-level processes like the “Latino paradox 1 ,” acculturation, and assimilation (e.g., Cobb et al, 2017; Miller & Gibson, 2011; Sampson & Bean, 2006).…”

Race, ethnicity, and social change: The democratization of middle‐class crime*

“…In light of the overall pattern of results observed here, however, specifically the strong relationship between middle‐class job growth and middle‐class crime for Latinos and Asians coupled with the apparent lack of a similar relationship for Blacks, it seems prudent to explore the possibility of constructing race‐centered theories for all racial/ethnic minorities—each of whom has a unique American experience. Indeed, it may be fruitful to consider integrating racial privilege theory (Sohoni & Rorie, 2019) and tenets of the race centered theory proposed by Unnever and Gabbidon (2011; see also Isom Scott, 2020; Unnever et al., 2019). Our results suggest that Latinos and Asians are moving closer to Whites in their involvement in low‐level white‐collar crimes.…”

“…They are sometimes considered to be model minorities who are expected to be academically and occupationally successful (Fong, 2008; Lee & Zhou, 2015). Although we are reluctant to formulate detailed hypotheses regarding each of these groups and middle‐class crimes, we note that because of their unique historical experiences and cultural contexts (Isom Scott, 2020; Unnever & Gabbidon, 2011), it is possible that the level of participation in middle‐class crime varies across these groups as they have gained greater access to middle‐class jobs.…”