Association of Skin Color and Generation on Arrests Among Mexican-Origin Latinos

• Author: Mónica F. L. Montoya,Héctor E. Alcalá
• DOI: 10.1177/2153368716670998
• Published date: 01 April 2018
• Date: 01 April 2018
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Association of Skin Color

and Generation on Arrests

Among Mexican-Origin

Latinos

He

´ctor E. Alcala

´

1

and Mo

´nica F. L. Montoya

2

Abstract

Arrest and interaction with the criminal justice system can have negative impacts to

health and socioeconomic status. In the United States, Latinos are disproportionately

arrested and jailed, when compared to their non-Latino peers. However, Latinos are

not a homogeneousgroup. For example, generation and skincolor are two factors that

impact the social standing of Latinos in theUnited States. As a result, the presentstudy

tested if the effects of skin color on odds of arrest depended on generation among

Mexican-origin Latinos living in the Greater Los Angeles County Area using data from

the Immigration and International Mobility in Metropolitan Los Angeles (IIMMLA)

survey (N¼1,226). Unadjusted analyses showed that arrest rates increased with

generation. Multivariate results revealed that darker skin color was associated with

higher odds of arrest, but only for the second generation. These findings suggest that

the likelihood of being arrested for Mexican-origin Latinos is not uniform. Observed

differences could set the stage for disparities in health and socio-economic status.

Keywords

race/ethnicity, Latino/Hispanic Americans, race and policing, immigration, racial

profiling

The criminalization of Latinos in the United States is a major concern for this growing

population group. National statistics reveal that Latinos are incarcerated at more than

1

Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

2

UCSD Center for Healthy Eating and Activity Research (CHEAR), La Jolla, CA, USA

Corresponding Author:

He

´ctor E. Alcala

´, Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Virginia, Fontaine Research Park,

560 Ray C. Hunt Drive Room 2104, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA.

Email: hectorapm@ucla.edu

Race and Justice

2018, Vol. 8(2) 178-193

ªThe Author(s) 2016

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DOI: 10.1177/2153368716670998

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twice the rate of non-Latino Whites (West, 2010). This carries serious consequences

for the Latino community because an interaction (i.e., arrest, incarceration, etc.) with

the criminal justice system has been associated with several adverse consequences.

Economically, incarceration and arrest can negatively impact earnings and employ-

ment prospects (Bushway, 1998; Western, Kling, & Weiman, 2001). In terms of

health of individuals, being incarcerated has been associated with more chronic health

problems (Schnittker & John, 2007), elevated risk of infectious diseases (Massoglia,

2008), and elevated mortality risk (Rosen, Wohl, & Schoenbach, 2011). However,

current research paradigms have not been able to rule out the potential of selection

bias driving these relationships (Massoglia & Pridemore, 2015). Additionally,

involvement with the criminal justice system negatively impacts the health, health

behaviors, and well-being of the families of those involved (Alcala´, von Ehrenstein, &

Tomiyama, 2016; Wildeman, 2010, 2012).

Widespread racial and ethnic disparities exist when it comes to contact and invol-

vement with the criminal justice system. Racial and ethnic minoritiesare more likely to

be arrested (Brownfield, Sorenson, & Thompson, 2001; Kirk, 2008; Tapia, 2010) and

receive harsher sentences (Freiburger & Hilinski, 2013; Koons-Witt, Sevigny, Burrow,

& Hester, 2012) than their non-Latino White peers. Despite the fact that the bulk of

research has focused on the different experiences of Blacks and Whites in the criminal

justice system, evidence suggests that Latinos are more likely to be detained, arrested,

and incarcerated than their non-Latino White peers (Brame, Bushway, Paternoster, &

Turner, 2014; Kutateladze, Andiloro, Johnson, & Spohn, 2014). Racial and ethnic

disparities in arrest are not explained by suspect’s demeanor, severity of offence,

amount of evidence available at the scene, presence of a witness, the discovery or

commission of a crime during the arrest, suspect’s prior criminal record, suspect being

under the influenceof drugs or alcohol, and requests to arrest made byvictims (Kochel,

Wilson, & Mastrofski, 2011), suggesting that disparitiesare being produced by bias and

racism and not characteristics ofthe crime. Additionally, Latinos, relative tonon-Latino

Whites, are more likely to be frisked by police and less likely to be found in possession

of items like drugs or weapons (Ayres & Borowsky, 2008), which might be used as

justificationfor police attention. This disparity in frisking is also notaccounted by racial

disparities in crime participation or by precinct-level variability in crime (Gelman,

Fagan, & Kiss, 2007). Unsurprisingly, Latinos are more likely to report that police

profiling is widespread and to report being profiled by the police than Whites (Reitzel,

Rice, & Piquero, 2004). Overall, Latinos are more likely to have experiences with the

criminal justice system than non-Latino Whites, but growing evidence points to het-

erogeneity within the Latino group by factors like generation and skin color.

Generation

Availableevidence suggests that the riskof involvement with the criminaljustice system

varies by generation, which is importantbecause many Latinos are immigrants,children

of immigrants,or grandchildren of immigrants.In the United States, researchhas shown

increasedrates of criminal involvementamong successivegenerations, with similarrates

Alcala

´and Montoya 179