By: orlando rodríguez  (Page 5/7)

Table 3. Imprisonment Rates per 100,000 Population, State and Federal Prisons, 2003, and Juvenile Facilities, 1999, According to Race and Ethnicity

Sources: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2003 . Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, November 2004, Tables 11 and 12. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Juveniles in Corrections . Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, June, 2004, p11.

In criminology, it is well-known that with a few exceptions, victims’ social characteristics mirror perpetrators’ (Cohen&Felson, 1979; Hindenlang, Gottfredson,&Garofalo, 1978). For instance, most homicide perpetrators and victims share the same age group, social class, ethnicity, and gender (Fox&Zawitz, 2004). Therefore, one would expect a given ethnic group’s victimization rates to mirror its arrest rates, as is the case for Whites. If an ethnic group’s arrest rate is higher than its victimization rate, the difference can be taken as evidence, though not proof, of discrimination in law enforcement. In the same way, discrepancies between an ethnic group’s self-reported and official arrest rates suggest discrimination (Elliott&Ageton, 1980).

Across criminal justice process stages, Hispanics generally have lower rates than Blacks, but higher rates than Whites and other minority groups. This general pattern masks an important difference: Hispanic – White differences in victimization are less pronounced than differences in arrests or imprisonment. Table 4 shows this by presenting each ethnic group’s rates as ratios to the mean rate. Hispanics have victimization rates equal to the mean for most offenses, but their arrests and imprisonment rates are generally 1.3 to 1.5 times the mean, depending on the offense. Blacks’ rates across criminal justice process stages are generally 2 to 3.5 times the mean, while Whites’ and other groups’ rates are generally below the mean.

Table 4. Ratios of Hispanic, Black, White and Other Group’s Victimization, Arrest and Imprisonment Rates to Mean Rates

Hispanic immigrant involvement in the criminal justice system

There is very little information available about the extent of immigrant involvement in criminal justice as victims or perpetrators. The latest information available dates to the late 1990s, when Hagan and Palloni (1998) examined arrest and imprisonment rates for specific immigrant groups. The research they reviewed and reanalyzed generally indicates lesser immigrant involvement once the age characteristics of specific immigrant groups were taken into account. For instance, Mexicans’ imprisonment rates were found to be similar to those of U.S. citizens. In another study specifically focusing on Hispanics in San Diego and El Paso, Hagan and Palloni (1999) found that immigrants had violence arrest rates similar to those of U.S. citizens. Illegal aliens had lower violence and narcotics arrests rates than immigrants or U.S. citizens, but higher property arrest rates. Similar results are found in other studies of immigrant crime involvement in the U.S. and other developed countries (Lee, et al., 2001; Pennell, et al., 1989). For a review of the evidence with detailed coverage of the U.S. and other countries, see Yeager (1996). Although these studies are limited by their focus on specific jurisdictions, by their use of limited survey instruments, or by limitations on the number of geographic areas available for comparison, they all show a consistent finding: There is less crime involvement among immigrants than among the native-born, but there is greater crime involvement among the children of immigrants than among the native born.