DEINDUSTRIALIZATION AND CRIMINALIZATION

BY STUDENT

It can be seen from the Bureau of Justice statistics that the Latino/a prison inmate population in the United States has drastically increased since the 1990's. In the year 2004 Latinos/as were incarcerated 2.6 times more often than whites (Bureau of Justice Statistics,2005). Less than one in eight United States residents are of Latino/a descent meanwhile one out of every four prisoners are Latino/a. While prison population regardless of race grew from 1971 to 2001 the largest racial increase could be seen in the Latino/a population. The average Latino/a inmate population jumped ten times what it was back in 1971 (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2003B, 5). Similar to African Americans Latino/as appear to be subdued and oppressed by the mass imprisonment phenomenon. Many factors come together to create the surge in Latino/a prisoner population. The creation of race within the United States paves the way for the disproportional treatment towards Latinos/as in the criminal justice system. Is the influx of Latino/a prison inmate population a result of their portrayal in the mass media?

    In this blog post I argue that Latinos/as are more affected than whites by the United States prison population expansion.  The establishment of public policy regarding crime and the fear of crime displayed by the mass media are the main reason for the high incarceration rates of non-whites. The media promotes fear and puts out negative images regarding people of color (Morin 2009). Latinos/as are targets of accusations that link them to criminality because of their immigrant status. These accusations are a result of what the media puts out for the masses.  For example, a Time magazine employee went through East Los Angeles in 1967 and found "tawdry taco joints and rollicking cantinas," smelled "the reek of cheap wine [and] ... the fumes of frying tortillas," and heard "the machine gun patter of slung Spanish," (Impact of Mass Media, pg. 351). Such biased reporting did next to nothing to support inter-group understanding. Instead it reinforced the prejudices to the magazine's audience. The Bureau of Justice Statistics (1997,9) discovered that in the ten years from 1985 to 1995 the Latino/a prison population increased by 219%, with an average yearly increase by 12.3%. Unprecedented high levels of incarceration which are "markedly above the historical and comparative for all societies of this type" can be linked by the social phenomenon known as mass imprisonment.

     The fear of crime has become a major influence in policy making in the criminal justice system. This stems from the ongoing negative media portrayal Latinos/as receive that link them to crime.  The misconception of Latinos/as through the mass media stands in the way of the long overdue change that the criminal justice system desperately needs.  Loic Wacant (2001) found that in the penal system racial inequality becomes most noticeable when one compares the prison statistics from early on in the century to what it is today. At the mid century point the prison population went from 70% white to 70% African American and Latino/a. If these statistics are not just cause for change in the criminal justice system I do not know what is.

Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2003b. Prevalence of Imprisonment in the U.S. Population,

1974–2001, NCJ 197976, by Thomas P. Bonczar. Washington, DC: US Department ofJustice.

Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2005. Prisoners in 2004. NCJ 210677, by Paige M. Harrison,

and Allen J. Beck. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice.

Victimization, 2005: National Crime

Bureau of Justice Statistics. 1997. Prisoners in 1996, NCJ 164619, by Chrisopher

            J.Mumola and   Allen J. Beck. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice.

Wacquant, Loı¨c. 2001. Deadly Symbiosis: When Ghetto and Prison Meet and

            Mesh. In Mass Imprisonment: Social Causes and Consequences, ed. David

            Garland, 82–120. London: Sage.

Morin, Jose Luis. "LATINAS/OS AND US PRISONS." TRENDS AND CHALLENGES: 11-26.
     Print. 

Hiebert, Ray. (1988). Impact of Mass Media. New York; Longman Inc.