Latino sentencing dispositions, 1987-1991: Gringo justice in the heartland

Approximately seven decades of research on criminal sentencing has failed to uncover conclusive statistical evidence of racial discrimination in the United States legal system. Inconclusive findings arise in large part from flawed theoretical conceptualizations, differing methodologies, and inadequate data. Furthermore, criminological literature on racial disparities in sentencing overwhelmingly examines differences in sentencing patterns for white and black offenders, ignoring sentencing patterns for other racial/ethnic groups. Taking these issues into consideration, this study will examine sentencing practices in a small rural county of Nebraska in order to determine whether or not a double standard of justice exists for Anglos and Chicanos resulting in a disproportionate number of Chicanos sentenced to the Department of Correctional Services for the conviction of felony offenses. According to Mirande (1987), such a double standard of justice developed during the initial contact between Anglos and Mexicans on the early 19th-century northern Mexican frontier. Its maintenance has depended on the successful mobilization of socially created images of Chicanos as violent criminals by both criminal justice officials and early social science researchers. An analysis of quantitative and qualitative data on sentencing practices in ScottsBluff County, Nebraska will demonstrate the complex subtleties of present day discrimination in the legal system