Latina/o/x Criminology and Justice: Pedagogy, Curriculum, Representation, and Reflections. An Introduction to the Special Issue

Keywords:

• Race/ethnicity
• education
• Latina/o/x

Introduction

The United States (US) has almost two-thousand public postsecondary institutions, which provide more than thirteen million undergraduates (nearly three million of them are Latina/o/x) with what is perhaps the key to economic security in the modern economy—a degree in higher education. As the primary and most affordable access points to public postsecondary education the nation’s democracy, economy, and labor force are fundamentally founded on an educated citizenry. It is also clear that the number of Criminology and Criminal Justice (CCJ) programs, student enrollment, and faculty and staff hires have dramatically increased in the past two decades in the US (Cao, 2020; Stringer & Murphy, 2020). It is argued that this growth in CCJ reflect a historical social, cultural, and policy shift from social control to public-scrutiny about law enforcement and community relationships, especially for underresourced and marginalized minority communities (Russell-Brown, 2021; Stringer & Murphy, 2020). In essence, it can be argued that the expansive growth of CCJ in recent history is fundamentally being driven by the public and social demand for a systemic change of a criminal legal system that has historically and persistently reproduced racial/ethnic disparities and inequality. This is important to consider while over 60,000 CCJ degrees are awarded annually and establishes that CCJ majors is much greater than many other social science disciplines (Sloan, 2019; Sloan & Buchwalter, 2017; Stringer & Murphy, 2020). This same pattern is also reflected in post-graduate degrees as well (Cooper, Updegrove, & Bouffard, 2019; Stringer & Murphy, 2020).

Nevertheless, Latina/o/x individuals remain overrepresented in all aspects of the criminal legal system, yet Latina/o/x students remain underrepresented and marginalized. In a recent article by Vélez and Peguero (2023), the US Latina/o/x population is overrepresented in juvenile detention, arrests, sentencing, and victimization. Additionally, Vélez and Peguero (2023) argue that CCJ theories, and the consequential justice policies driven by evidence-based research, are not centering the nuances and complexities associated with Latina/o/x individuals and communities in order to ameliorate disparate treatment and consequences attributed to crime and criminal legal system involvement. It has been clear that there has been a long-standing call by many CCJ scholars to center race/ethnicity in CCJ theories, research, teaching, and curriculum (Hawkins, 1995; Peterson, Krivo, & Hagan, 2006; Russell, 1992).

Unfortunately, structural and institutional barriers remain evident in regard to efforts to center race/ethnicity in all aspects of CCJ higher-education, especially in regards to focusing on the lived experiences of Latina/o/x educators and scholars. There has also been much research about the challenges and barriers that scholars of color, both graduate students and faculty, have faced throughout their entire education and academic careers. Much of this research refers to a “pipeline” of progress and success for scholars of color and the “leaks” refer the underrepresentation of scholars of color at each phase and level of higher education and academia because of the intersection of inequality, racial bias or oppression, and gender discrimination that often face Latina/o/x undergraduates, graduates, and faculty, including within CCJ departments and programs (Blount-Hill, St. John, Moton, & Ajil, 2022; Flores Niemann, Gutiérrez y Muhs, & González, 2020; Gutiérrez, Muhs, Niemann, Gonzalez, & Harris, 2012; Mitchell, 2021; Peguero, 2011, 2018; Pizarro, 2017; Russell-Brown, 2021).

Approximately thirty-years ago, Russell (1992) forged and established a criminology sub-field called Black Criminology. The argued need for Black Criminology reflected the conventional and historical criminology’s limited ability to answer questions of crime committed by Black/African Americas beyond the race variable. Many scholars continue this Black Criminology theory and research lineage to address the historical and persistent oppression and marginalization of by Black/African Americans in regards to crime and the criminal legal system (Gabbidon, 2015; Penn, 2003; Potter, 2006; Russell, 1992; Russell-Brown, 2021).

In a similar vein to support not only scholarship on persons of color but scholars of color themselves, Ruth Peterson, Lauren Krivo, and many others established the Racial Democracy, Crime, and Justice Network (RDCJN) more than twenty years ago. Funded by the National Science Foundation ‘s Sociology and Law and Social Sciences program, RDCJN sought to establish an association of scholars who advance the study of the intersections among democracy, crime and justice, and actions of citizenship as well as promote the racial/ethnic democratization of academia by supporting early career scholars of color in advancing their academic careers. RDCJN has contributed to the promotion and tenure of over one-hundred underrepresented scholars (including the co-editors of this special issue) and advanced and elevated the criminological research on race/ethnicity, crime, democracy, and justice. In addition, RDCJN also established a community of underrepresented and marginalized scholars who supportive and encouraging of each other as they each face and overcome historic and continuing barriers towards progress and success within the academy.

More than one decade ago, María Vélez, Robert Durán, and Anthony Peguero continued a tradition set by Black Criminology, RDCJN, and many other criminologists by creating Latina/o/x Criminology (LC). The LC seeks to exchange, promote, and disseminate information that contributes to the criminological knowledge and understanding of the rapidly growing Latina/o/x population in relationship to the areas of criminology, criminal justice, social justice, sociology, psychology, education, human development, and social work. The LC also seeks to foster a community of Latina/o/x criminologists to promote, support, and engage one another in the pursuit of furthering LC. It is important to note that Ed Muñoz, Mary Romero, Avelardo “Lalo” Valdez, Cecilia Menjívar, Ramiro Martinez, Nancy Rodriguez, and many other scholars were incredibly encouraging and supportive of us to pursue this effort. León (2021) has characterized the LC as a community of scholars “whose work is organized around advancing crime and justice scholarship of and by Latinos in the US. This network mentors and advises scholars at various career phases and supports Latina/o/x researchers who might otherwise exist in a professional silo where it is difficult to connect over shared experiences, cultural background, and socio-political identity” (p.20). With this noted, the conception of this special issue is continuing the tradition of the LC by illuminating and focusing on how CCJ education and LC intersect.

In the lead article of this special issue, Nancy Rodriguez, the first scholar of color and Latina to be Director of the National Institute of Justice, reflects on her experience as a Latina and the role of service in the academy. It is clear that she hopes that universities can facilitate the academic success of scholars of color by acknowledging, recognizing, and implementing practices and policies that recognize the different pathways to the academy, their motivations for being in the profession, and their ties to the communities they represent.

Next, Shirley Leyro explores feelings of belonging and membership of noncitizen students and the impact on their mental well-being from 137 participants across multiple undergraduate campuses across the City University of New York (CUNY) system. She reveals noncitizen students’ immigration status impacts their ability to form a sense of belonging; belonging and membership is related to the level of institutional support they receive, and both factors impact their mental well-being.

In the following article, Serita Whiting reflects on how navigating research as a Black Latina early-career scholar is no easy task. She stresses how navigating the academy, including deciphering and contextualizing research past, present, and future requires mentorship. Moreover, how mentorship is the pinnacle of academia and the legacy of future effective scholarship; and, how the united mentorship is critical to criminology and the future of scholarship, as different perspectives and ideas are what drive great scientific discoveries.

Adopting a LatCrit lens, Kay Varela questions how prison tours have become a well-known. curricular aid in criminal justice courses. In her manuscript, she questions the justification of deeming the educational benefits of prison tours for some criminal justice students more important than harms that often arise. In other words, she is critical of the use of prison tours as pedagogical tools in criminal justice courses, guided by her status as a Latina scholar and educator. She discusses the potential harms that prison tours can cause not only for incarcerated persons themselves, but also for students from underrepresented groups who have previously had, or their family, friends, or neighbors, contact with the criminal justice system.

Jorge Chavez follows by reflecting on his trajectory from immigrant to graduate student and then professor, to entering the academy, the challenges of being a Latinx scholar and professor, and the support structures that have nurtured me throughout his career. He recognizes the change in the growing number of scholars and students of color and in turn pushes how this trend is changing the questions being asked and realizing new solutions within CCJ. Most importantly, he is no longer alone in academic room but together, as scholars of color, we can be catalysts for change.

In their following article, Kenneth Sebastian León and Andrea Gómez Cervantes ask two questions: 1) how are Latino-identifying and Latino-identified persons (mis)represented in criminal and immigration systems data?; and, 2) how do institutions of formal social control, through their measurement systems, contribute to skewed understandings of racial-ethnic disparities in systems of formal social control? They highlight that measurement challenges hinder a full understanding of how criminal justice and immigration policies shape particular notions of Latinidad and the broader implications for equity and justice. They also stress practical methodological adjustments can strengthen criminological inquiry writ large, and a reflection on the empirical and political contributions that the Latina/o/x Criminology research community continues to advance.

In her reflection, Janice Iwama she considers how Latinx student enrollment has dramatically risen in recent decades but a large share of Latinx adults remain without a college degree. She explores the barriers that many Latinx students face on the path to obtaining a college degree and to contextualize these challenges using an autoethnographic approach based on her experience as a Latina and second-generation immigrant and reminds us of the influence of “familismo” in decision-making by Latinx students. She offers recommendations for postsecondary institutions to increase the completion and graduation rates of Latinx students to advance Latinx success as one of the fastest growing demographic groups in the US.

As a reminder, Katherine L. Maldonado-Fabela discusses the wealth of knowledge that documents the community cultural wealth that exists for Latina/o/x/Chicana/o/x students in educational institutions where some knowledge is devalued yet serve as a tool to thrive and develop spaces of resistance; however, she also highlights that there has been little connection between criminal justice and pedagogical practices of love, care, and compassion. She introduces the concept of barrio pedagogy through a trauma stewardship framework which provides a compass of five directions to engage with radical teaching and caring in times of social injustice.

In their following article, Susila Gurusami, Rocío R. García, and Diya Bose conduct a discursive analysis of existing research, public policy, and responses to policies at the nexus of crimmigration scholarship and Latinx sexualities to examine how the figure of “the criminal” drives scholarship on racial justice. They develop the concept of carceral distractions as a type of white distraction that orient us toward accepting carceral fate and consequences as an inevitable marker of state care, protection, and remedy for harm. They demonstrate how carceral distractions strengthen white supremacy by legitimizing carceral logics.

In his reflection, Xavier Perez looks back on his own academic journey as a Latinx scholar through an under-resourced public-school system to the director and co-founder of a Criminology program at a four-year university. He highlights the impact of community, social programs and personal resilience to escape a life on the streets and a broken criminal justice system. He also argues that there is fundament need to humanize the criminal justice system within CCJ academic programs.

Through an abolitionist lens, Felicia Arriaga, Jessie Rios Benitez, and Nataly Jimenez argue that abolition is an organizing principle and a daily practice. As three first generation college graduate Latinas from immigrant families who met at Appalachian State University, they see a world where our communities have the tools necessary for our collective liberation. For these three Latina scholars, abolition was not a choice but a necessity that we embody and model for the communities that depend on themselves. They learned early on in their lives and educational experiences that the carceral state is a response to inequality and not preventative. Their journeys are similar in many ways and they found themselves in a community where they were able to thrive.

Finally, the special issue concludes with four reviews of books recently published by Latina/o/x scholars. Alejandra B. Portillos reviews Stuart Forrest’s book titled Ballad of the Bullet: Gangs, Drill Music, and the Power of Online Infamy. Graciela Perez reviews Harsha Walia’s book titled Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racists Nationalism. Daniela Oramas Mora reviews Ana Muñiz’s book titled Borderland Circuitry: Immigration Surveillance in the United States and Beyond. Angélica Lopez reviews Armando Lara-Millán’s book titled Redistributing the Poor: Jails, Hospitals, and the Crisis of Law and Fiscal Austerity.

As co-editors of this special issue, we have much gratitude to express (muchísimas gracias) in regards to this special issue. We thank the outgoing Editor of JCJE Shaun Gabbidon for inviting us and allowing the scholarly freedom to develop a special issue that highlights, exemplifies, and elevates the discussion about how CCJ education and LC intersect. We deeply thank the contributors for their patience, attention to details, and timely effort and commitment toward contributing to this special issue. We would also like to thank Amada Armenta (Associate Professor, University of California, Los Angeles), Krystlelynn Caraballo (Assistant Professor, Arizona State University), Janet Garcia-Hallett (Assistant Professor, University of New Haven), Melissa Guzman-Garcia (Associate Professor, San Francisco State University), Angelique Nevarez Maes (Doctoral Candidate, Texas A&M University), Beatriz Aldana Márquez (Assistant Professor, University of Connecticut), Zahra Shekarkhar (Associate Professor, Fayetteville State University), Melanie Palacios Soderstrom (Assistant Professor, Texas State University), Edwardo Portillos (Associate Professor, University of Colorado–Colorado Springs), Jose Sanchez (Doctoral Candidate, University of Colorado, Boulder), Nicholas Vargas (Associate Professor, University of California, Berkeley), and some of the contributors of this special issue for reviewing these manuscripts during a time where so many of us are already overextended in regards to service.

Our special issue sought to highlight innovative and enlightening articles to demonstrate how CCJ education and LC intersect, especially for Latina/o/x scholars. The work presented here reveals that there are important advances to the field that can be achieved by attempting to better understand the historical context as well as the unique or distinct circumstances that Latina/o/x students and scholars navigate in their often-personal pursuit of racial equity and justice through their research, teaching, and service for their familia y comunidad. As denoted and highlighted by the work presented here, we encourage future research to further expand our understanding of Latina/o/x Criminology, especially for one of the fastest growing segments of nation, in order ensure a diverse and inclusive educational institution and system that is fundamentally based on ensuring success and instilling the necessary skills to ALL students to become productive members of our society who enter the labor force, become voters, form families, and ultimately lead the US into its future, research on such future work promises to provide important opportunities for theoretical advancement on racial democracy, crime, and justice. We have much appreciation for all those who support RDCJN and LC because this special issue would not have happened without them. We also hope that this special issue represents RDCJN and LC as well as la familia y comunidad.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

April Fernandes

April D. Fernandes is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology & Anthropology at North Carolina State University. Her work explores the racialized and ableist consequences of contact with the criminal legal system, ranging from police interactions and arrests to prison & jail stays. She is a co-founder and co-PI of the Captive Money Lab, along with Dr. Brittany Friedman and Dr. Gabriela Kirk, where they are currently exploring the practice and impacts of prison pay-to-stay having recently received a $1.5 million grant from Arnold Ventures.

Janice Iwama

Janice Iwama is an Associate Professor in the Department of Justice, Law & Criminology at American University in Washington, D.C. She received her Ph.D. in Criminology and Justice Policy from Northeastern University. Dr. Iwama’s primary research lies in exploring the intersection of race, ethnicity, immigration, and crime.

Anthony Peguero

Anthony A. Peguero is a Professor of Criminology & Sociology at Arizona State University. His interests involve youth violence, juvenile justice, and school safety. Dr. Peguero is a member of Latina/o/x Criminology and Racial Democracy, Crime, and Justice Network and which hold the goals of advancing research on the intersection of race, crime, equity, and justice.