Hispanic/Latino(A) Prisoners

Anthony B. Guevara

The terms Latino/a and Hispanic typically refer to people of Spanish origin. Latinos and Latinas are the fastest-growing minority group in the United States, growing seven times faster than the general population. Between 1980 and 1990, the Hispanic population had increased by half, while the white (non-Hispanic) population increased only 6%. Such increases in the general population have also occurred behind bars. Between 1985 and 2002, the rate of Latino inmates in state and federal facilities increased from 10% to 18%. As for specific offenses, from 1995 to 2001, the number of Latino offenders incarcerated for property and drug offenses declined, but the rate for those incarcerated for violent crime increased by 81.5%. In 2001, the greatest portion of the 205,300 Latinos incarcerated in state prisons were sentenced for violent crime (50%), followed by drug offenses (23%), and property crime (16%). As for those under the sentence of death, approximately ...

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