Report
Racial Disparities March 8, 2023
Exploring Latino/a Representation in Local Criminal Justice Systems: A Review of Data Collection Practices and Systems-Involvement
Today, just under one in five people in the U.S. self-identify as being of Latino origin. Yet, remarkably, despite the size and diversity of the Latino population in the U.S., we do not know how many Hispanic and Latino people are arrested. That's because we are still not collecting the data in enough detail. The U.S. has simply never paid close enough attention to the experience of Latino people in our criminal justice system. A new report seeks to change that. The report, "Exploring Latino/a Representation in Local Criminal Justice Systems: A Review of Data Collection Practices and Systems-Involvement", finds that Latino and White rates of justice involvement are similar. Often, the rates for Latinos are lower than those of Whites. But these findings could be the result of the inaccurate representation of Latinos in criminal justice data. This report should be the first of many to take a comprehensive look at this jail population. Its findings will help us develop much-needed reforms to the system and further racial equity.
