NCJ Number
78060
Date Published
1981
Length
564 pages
Annotation
Papers concerning the problems of undocumented Hispanic workers and of the relationship of Hispanics with police, courts, corrections, and the juvenile justice system are presented in these proceedings of the first National Hispanic Conference on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice.
Abstract
The impetus for the conference was provided by the absence of adequate information about Hispanics in the criminal justice system and by recent reports of injustices perpetrated on Hispanics by the criminal justice system. Some overall concerns were the disproportionate number of Hispanics coming into contact with the system and the scarcity of Hispanics in professional law enforcement and other criminal justice positions. Another concern was the lack of unified activity by Hispanic groups to press for change and equality in the system. A workshop on corrections dealt with the problem which psychological testing presents for incarcerated Hispanics in terms of placing these inmates in programs, the need for bilingual programming in corrections, and the need for reentry support systems for Hispanic inmates. Four major areas of concern were discussed in the police workshop: affirmative action, police accountability, the use of deadly force, and civilian control. Papers in the courts workshop focused on how the lack of uniformity within the criminal justice system affects the Hispanic who is involved. Topics of the juvenile justice workshop included juvenile justice agency neglect of female Hispanic adolescents, juvenile justice agency treatment of the Hispanic juvenile, and the problems of economically disadvantaged youth in the juvenile justice system. Finally, papers from the workshop on undocumented workers examined the treatment of the alien material witness; the attainment of legal, permanent U.S. residency by way of the immigration court; and immigration law and the rights of the undocumented worker. Summaries of the papers and recommendations developed by participants are given for each workshop topic. Keynote speeches by officials from the U.S. Department of Justice, the White House, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and by two members of Congress are included. Footnotes, appendixes, bibliographical references, tabular data, and lists of conference participants are given. Rosters of sponsored and invited participants to the conference are appended. For individual papers, see NCJ 78061-78074.