Mexican American Distrust

Many black communities throughout the U.S. have a complete lack of trust in law enforcement due to the dangers of being profiled, and this lack of trust is mainly active in the poor black communities. Many of the individuals of black communities feel this type of distrust because when police are present in these communities, they are viewed as an “occupying force coming in from the outside to rule and control the community” (Washington). More times than not racial profiling has often led to police brutality, all the more reason why there is no trust between those that reside in black communities, and police officers.

Although mistreatment caused considerable suffering for Mexican-Americans, it also forced them to overcome internal differences in order to form a secure community, and contributed to the eventual development of a sense of mexicanidad. Gutiérrez explains how the abuse faced by Mexican-Americans caused the formation of such ties, stating, “it is common for such newly created minority populations to develop a new sense of identity as a natural defense mechanism or as part of a larger ‘oppositional strategy’ against the prejudice and discrimination shown them by the majority or dominant group.” The Mexican-Americans developed barrios and colonias throughout the Southwest to act as such defense mechanisms. These were communities of Mexican-Americans

In the book Punished by Victor Rios, he presents the argument that the consistent labeling by every state run institution that cast young Latinos as criminals or cast “at risk youth” expected to commit crimes is symptomatic of the social structures that creature the criminalization process of young Latinos. Non-state institutions as well as parents, who often seek help from them, are often advised to

As difficult as their job may be, and as big a toll as it may take on them emotionally, it is important to bear in mind that police officers are normal human beings with normal brains and mental processes. Consequently, they are prone to make the same stereotype-biased judgments the rest of us are. Because they are often operating under conditions of uncertainty, high discretion, and stress and threat, the pervasive stereotypes linking Blacks and Latinos with violence, crime, and even specifically weapons are likely to cause them to make misattributions in seeking to disambiguate the intentions and behaviors of citizens. This can lead to racially disparate rates of stops, searches, arrests, and use of force. Several interventions that aim to reduce bias or discriminatory behavior at the individual level warrant further investigation in the policing context. Nonnegative intergroup contact is especially promising given its strong evidence base and that it could be achieved through

Several say that Hispanics are coming to America to take all the jobs, as well to take full advantage of all the benefits the United States offer like welfare and section 8 housing. It’s sad to see how Hispanics are treated differently since there a different ethnicity. This discrimination will keep happening due to that the government system is corrupt, and because they don’t assign stricter sentences when it comes to racism or hatred crimes towards Hispanics. Although, if it was the other way around for Hispanics or African Americans being racist towards the white people or do hateful crimes to them, then it would totally be a big deal.

The concept of hypercriminalization specifically leads Rios to question how punishment, surveillance, and the criminal justice system affect minority adolescent males. Additionally, Rios wanted to know how the roles of authority figures such as police, school teachers, parents, and probation officers influenced or hindered adolescent male’s lives. For the study, Rios decided to shadow and conduct in-depth interviews with forty adolescent males, both Latino and African-American between the ages of fourteen and seventeen at the time of recruitment, from neighborhoods around Oakland, California. Additionally, Rios observed and informally interviewed seventy-eight other adolescent males that were friends or acquaintances of the boys Rios selected to study in-depth.

There is recent controversy over police use of force, especially in minority communities such as in African American communities, Hispanic communities, and other publics with large populations of minorities. Increased levels of force among these communities have created challenges for police departments. These challenges include a lack of trust from the community towards law enforcement officers and an absence of respect creating situations that lead to police use of force. There are already various programs in place that attempt to decrease this challenge by educating the public, respecting one another, and giving those who were on the wrong track second chances. A combination of these solutions and the implementation of more of them would decrease the number of contacts between police and minorities that lead to the use of force (Roberg & Novak, 2014).

Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys. New York: New York UP, 2011. Print. pag 21).In chapter 3 the author of the book describes how a young Hispanic and Black deal with police and crimes in a community where both are part of the daily activities. Also Victor illustrates how complex is the environment in these neighborhoods and how the punishment and labeling process generated by police amplify the “codes of the streets” learned and applied by youths who live in these marginal areas. If we go to Chapter 4 we will realize the high importance of it, because of the role of the school, police, parents and other social influences contributing to grow the sense criminalization as a core element after these youths have committed a crime or develop any illegal activity. Cultural and institutional patterns become important elements in this chapter because they provide essential information to understand why and how young men relapse with their crimes and the effect of criminalization used mainly by police in

During the beginning of Mexican immigration to the United States employers welcomed the new source of cheap labor with open arms. However these same employers, of Caucasian descent, began to worry that these foreign-born people of darker complexion would weaken American society. These local worries accompanied by national concern over crime and the nature of criminality prompted the LAPD to bring special attention to the issue of Mexican crime for the first time in its department’s history. The LAPD’s preoccupation with the connection between race and criminality became the main idea defining the relationship between the force and the Chicano population. Newspapers ran stories about Crimes committed by Mexicans much more frequently to contribute to the idea that they commit many crimes. Followed by the study of criminology and how it gave a scientific standpoint as

Law enforcement agencies have been building relationships within their prospective communities for the past 20 years or so which has allowed them to recognize and address growing concerns(Intelligence-Led, n.d.). Consequently, law

Cooperation from members of the public is important in order for police officers to effectively fight crime within the community. In order to obtain cooperation from members of the public, police officers must gain their trust and confidence. It has been known that African Americans and Hispanics have lower levels of trust and confidence in police because of racial disparities and racial profiling. This paper will discuss the public opinion of police by different ethnic groups and how racial minorities hold lower levels of trust and confidence in police.

“RUN, RUN, RUN, they 're coming!” One of Jose’s friends said. “It was late one night on an empty street. There was hardly anything around and only a couple of street lights. I remember the sirens from the cop cars. They sounded distant at first, but the faster we ran the louder the sirens got.” In the reading of A Generation in Prison it states that latinos make up 31 percent of the inmates in a U.S. federal prison. Unfortunately Jose Garcia was once part of that 31 percent. Not to mention according to the U.S Department of Justice 67.8 percent of the 404,638 state prisoners released in 2005 were arrested within 3 years of release, and 76.6 percent were arrested within 5 years of release.

Hispanic Americans suffered similar fate as African- Americans in racial profiling. The media portrayed them as part of gangs and selling drugs. This group is more likely to have a strong group identity and view the police officers as “gringos” or foreigners (Aguiree , 2004). They already look at the police officers with negativity due to increased activities of deporting illegal occupiers (Davis & Hendricks, 2007). The police officers may be influenced to believe that this group is at higher risk of breaking laws and do not understand Hispanic Americans’ culture.

Brown (2004) said that it is essential that police officials adjust their polices and practices to accommodate the changing needs of the populace as it continues to metamorphasize. He suggests that police help educate immigrants about U.S. laws and the role of police, and believes that serving a diverse society requires police to interact with minorities in a respectful manner while also seeking their input on local problems. Overall, Brown touts the option of community policing and shows that he is in favor of integrating the police into the community in order to create deeper bonds with citizens and form a sense of trust. In various studies, community policing has been shown to effectively increase positive relations between citizens and the police; when people begin feeling like they can trust the police, they are more likely to help the authorities out by offering information regarding crimes that they may have witnessed, or even acting as eyes on the street when the police are not

There is a perception of distrust between law enforcement and the community. This distrust stems directly from the dangerous words police use when communicating with the community. (Willis, 2015, p.) Simply choosing better words can help build relationships between law enforcement and the community. It is necessary for law enforcement to have trust with their community. There are many things that hinge on the police-community relationships, the ability of law enforcement to perform their duties, are the most important. Law enforcement must be willing to rely on the public to observe the law. They must always demonstrate absolute impartiality to the law.