Latinas in the Criminal Justice System: Victims, Targets, and Offenders

by Vera Lopez (Editor), Lisa Pasko (Editor)

Overview

How Latina girls and women become entangled in the criminal justice system

Despite representing roughly 16 percent of incarcerated women, Latina women and girls are often rendered invisible in accounts of American crime and punishment. In Latinas in the Criminal Justice System, Vera Lopez and Lisa Pasko bring together a group of distinguished scholars to provide a more complete, nuanced picture of Latinas as victims, offenders, and targets of deportation. Featuring Cecilia Menjívar, Lisa M. Martinez, Alice Cepeda, and others, this volume examines the complex histories, backgrounds, and struggles of Latinas in the criminal justice system.

Contributors show us how Latinas encounter a variety of justice systems, including juvenile detention, adult court and corrections, and immigration and customs enforcement. Topics include Latina victims of crime and their perceptions of police officers; the impact of the US “crimmigration” system on undocumented Latina women; and help-seeking among Latina victims of intimate partner violence. Additionally, key chapters highlight the emergence of legal reforms, community mobilization efforts, and gender-sensitive alternatives to incarceration designed to increase equitable outcomes.

Lopez and Pasko broaden our understanding of how gender, ethnicity, and legal status uniquely shape the experiences of system-impacted Latina girls and women. Latinas in the Criminal Justice System is a timely and much-needed resource for academics, activists, and policymakers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781479804634
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	09/14/2021
Series:	Latina/o Sociology , #18
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Vera Lopez (Editor)
Vera Lopez is a Professor of Justice & Social Inquiry in the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State Universityand author of Complicated Lives: Girls, Parents, Drugs, and Juvenile Justice.

Lisa Pasko (Editor)
Lisa Pasko is Associate Professor of Sociology and Criminology, and affiliated faculty in the Gender and Women’s Studies Program, at the University of Denver. She is co-author of The Female Offender, Girls, Women, and Crime and Girls, Women, and Crime: Selected Readings and Latinas in the Criminal Justice System: Victims, Targets, and Offenders.

Table of Contents

Introduction Vera Lopez Lisa Pasko 1

Part I Victimization to Offending: Blurring the Boundaries

1 Entre Mujeres Platicamos: The Role of Informal Social Networks among Latina Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence Sujey Vega Alesha Durfee Jill Messing 19

2 Latina Interpersonal Victimization: The Importance of Sexual Orientation Lindsay Kahle Anthony Peguero 42

3 Nondisclosure of IPV Victimization among Disadvantaged Mexican American Young Adult Women Alice Cepeda Esmeralda Ramirez Jessica Frankeberger Kathryn M. Nowotny Avelardo Valdez 60

Part II Latina Offenders from Court to Correctional Involvement

4 Demasiados Problemas: A Focus on Gender, Ethnicity, and Juvenile Diversion Programming Lisa Pasko Jean Denious 83

5 On the Run and In/Out of the System: Understanding Latina Girls in a Southern California Barrio Jerry Flores Xuan Santos Ariana Ochoa Camacho 102

6 The Correlates and Consequences of Maternal Efficacy among Imprisoned Women Holly Foster Chantrey J. Murphy 126

Part III Immigration Enforcement, Crimmigration, and the Deportation Machine

7 No Solamente Porque Soy Mujer: A Transnational Intersectional Framework for Understanding Latin American Women's Experiences with Crimmigration Katie Dingeman William Estuardo Rosales 151

8 Masking Punitive Practices: Latina Immigrants' Experiences in the U.S. Detention Complex Cecilia Menjívar Andrea Gómez Cervantes William G. Staples 182

9 Adriana and Esther: Experiences of Formerly Incarcerated Migrant Women Deportees Martha Escobar 209

10 Young Women's and Girls' Experiences in the Facilitation of Migrant Smuggling Gabriella Sanchez 237

Part IV Community Programming for System-Impacted Latinas

11 From the Streets to the Halls of Higher Education: The Case of an Undocumented Latina on the Margins of the Justice System Lisa M. Martinez 259

12 Maternal Racial and Ethnic Strategies as a Protective Factor against Delinquency among Latina Girls: An Exploratory Study Veronica E. Cano 280

13 Mi Hermana's Keeper: Empowering Latina Youth to Improve Services That Prevent Juvenile Justice System Involvement DeAna Swan Johanna Creswell Báez Diandrea Garza 300

14 Xinachtli: A Healing-Informed, Gendered, and Culturally Responsive Approach with System-Involved Latinas Sara Haskie-Mendoza Josephine V. Serrata Heriberto Escamilla Christian Jaimes 315

Conclusion Vera Lopez Lisa Pasko 333

About the Contributors 339

About the Editors 349

Index 351

Editorial Reviews

"Latinas in the Criminal Justice System shines an important light on a topic long neglected by criminologists and criminology. Lopez and Pasko elevate the often ignored voices and situations of Latina girls and women, who are often invisible in the many debates about immigration. A must read."

Meda Chesney-Lind

"Contributing authors masterfully examine and vividly delineate the historical, social, legal, and ideological forces governing the Latina experience with the penal system and mainstream American society. In a highly charged political era, this book is a timely contribution to help educate readers about police, law and society, race/ethnic relations, and social and legal reform."

Choice - M.G Urbina