Latinos: The Conceptualization of Race (From Multicultural Perspectives in Criminal Justice and Criminology, P 155-184, 1994, James E. Hendricks and Bryan Byers, eds. - See NCJ-160016)

• NCJ Number: 160021
• Author(s): L B Myers; M Cintron; K E Scarborough
• Date Published: 1994
• Length: 30 pages
• Sale Source: Charles C. Thomas
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This chapter uses Latinos to illustrate problems associated with the social construction of knowledge as it applies to the conceptualization and operationalization of race in criminal justice.

Abstract

The chapter presents a justification for including all ethnic and racial groups, including Latinos, in contemporary criminal justice research. The current propensity to discuss black Americans as the only significant minority player in the criminal justice system means that numerous other groups are neglected in measurements of race, that these groups are collapsed in a catch-all category of "nonwhite" or "other," and that the diversity within the group is not considered. These errors have important implications for the development of a public policy that would effectively address various race-crime relationships. The model proposed here -- Structure X Culture X Biography -- would allow criminal justice researchers to understand the relationship of all racial identities to the social structure under analysis. 73 references