The Undereducation and Overcriminalization of U.S. Latinas/os: A Post-Los Angeles Riots LatCrit Analysis

Abstract

At 40.4 million strong (14% of the U.S. population; U.S. Bureau of the Census 2005), Latinas/os are the largest and fastest growing U.S. ethnic minority group. In the last 15 years, since the Los Angeles riots of 1992, Anglo perceptions that the Latina/o population is too large, growing too fast, and too illegal have both continued and perpetuated anti-Latina/o educational policy and criminal law that influence Latina/o perceptions of U.S. education, law, society, justice, and equity. The central question of the article is, What have been the effects of the last 15 years of educational and criminal justice policy on present-day urban Latina/o injustice and inequality? A Latino Critical Theory framework is used to interpret and understand the nexus of Anglo reaction (through educational policy and criminal law) to a perceived U.S. Latina/o-ization, and Latina/o counterreaction through resistance, agency, and protest. We focus on the ways in which education and criminal justice policies at the federal and state levels are related and have led to a barrio-ization of urban Latinas/os since the Los Angeles Riots. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for policy and practice aimed at improving of the Latina/o condition from its present “undereducated” and “overcriminalized” state.

Notes

1. The term “Latina/o” (Latina being female, Latino male) will be used throughout this article to connote people that have a cultural association via the Spanish language and reside in the United States. The U.S. Census uses Hispanic to classify people of Latin descent. Because this term is generally associated with “a history of colonialism and continued new-colonist action by the U.S. government” (Rodriguez, Guido-DiBrito, Torres, and Talbot 2000, 511), Latina/o is used to replace Hispanic.