Latino Report

These case examples illustrated below represent just a fraction of the thousands of Latino and Latino youth impacted by the justice system every day. Each of these cases relates to one of the key findings in the report, “¿DÓNDE ESTÁ LA JUSTICIA?” that reveals that Latino and Latina youth are over-represented in the U.S. justice system, and receive harsher treatment than White youth for the same types of offenses, while the lack of adequate data nationwide masks the severity of the problem. The youth’s real names have been changed to protect their confidentiality.

Remember Noemi: Address the Disparity and Over-representation of Latino and Latina Youth in the Justice System:
Seventeen-year-old Noemi, a Latina, is serving time in jail in Los Angeles, California. With her 18-year-old sister and a friend, Noemi robbed a woman. Noemi was armed with a screwdriver. The woman was unhurt and ultimately nothing was stolen. The presiding judge transferred Noemi’s case to adult criminal court, despite the facts that transfers in Los Angeles County for this type of crime are relatively rare and that Noemi had no previous juvenile or criminal record.

Like many adult prisons, the jail in which Noemi was held is completely unequipped to deal with adolescents, particularly girls. While the number of boys is large enough to warrant a separate cell block, no such accommodations exist for girls. Therefore, facility administrators placed Noemi in solitary confinement.

Noemi spends 23 hours of every day in solitary confinement, locked in her cell. In other ways, she has been treated inhumanely as well. She was not allowed to shower for long periods of time. She was not provided with basic medication, such as aspirin, nor was she provided with psychological treatment, even though she exhibited signs of severe depression. Her complaints about being touched and harassed by some of the adult inmates went completely unheeded.

Remember Juanita: Collect Accurate Data Using a Uniform Definition of Latino and Latina
Juanita Turner-Garcia is a biracial child who has just been arrested and detained for questioning. Her father is Puerto Rican, and her mother is African American. How should the justice system categorize Juanita’s race/ethnicity? The answer to that question depends upon Juanita’s state of residence. For example, in Arizona, Juanita would define her own race/ethnicity; In California, she would be assigned to the category of “African American;” In Michigan, she would be classified as “Hispanic” as well as being assigned to a specific racial group; and in Ohio, she would be listed as “biracial.”

Remember Alfredo: Transfer to Appropriate INS Detention Policies
The U.S. government locked 16-year-old Alfredo Lopez Sanchez alone in a hotel room for five weeks with nothing to read, no one to talk to, and no change of clothes while the INS worked to deport him. “Each day the maid comes in and changes the sheets. The bed gets clean clothes, but I don’t,” Alfredo told his lawyer.

Alfredo has been held by the INS in at least four locations, including a Florida county jail, a juvenile detention center in Pennsylvania, and the hotel room. He has been moved 8 times without prior notification of his lawyer, despite the fact that the boy suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder. Alfredo ran away from home after seeing his alcoholic father beat his mother so severely that she fell on top of her youngest baby, who died.

Alfredo, a Mayan boy from Guatemala, speaks a rare dialect called Southern Low Mam; he understands little Spanish and almost no English. A woman who speaks his language is ready to offer him a home in Miami, but the INS refuses to release Alfredo, saying he is a flight risk. A U.S. District Court Judge in Miami disagreed with the INS determination, but noted that the Court cannot “dictate to the INS where to place a juvenile alien.” Alfredo was dragged away in shackles, weeping. He was transferred to Berks County Youth Center in Leesport, Pennsylvania - 1,200 miles from his lawyer, who was informed after the fact.

Remember Ramon: Ignore Immigration Status of Latino and Latina Youth in Detention Decisions
Ramon is a 15-year-old boy from Honduras. Ramon became a “street child” in his native country after his alcoholic and abusive father died. Like the other estimated 35,000 street children in Central America, Ramon was homeless and his life frequently was threatened by police and government officials, whose routine torture and murder of street children has been internationally documented. Ramon walked 2,500 miles to the United States in order to preserve his life.

When he arrived in the U.S., Ramon found a job selling corn out of the back of a pickup truck. During a delivery, he was stopped on the freeway for allegedly speeding. The police officer proceeded to notify INS about Ramon, who has been locked up for several months because he is considered a “flight risk.” Ramon has yet to be charged with any crime-the speeding ticket and the civil offense of entering the country without documentation are his only violations of the law. Ramon has no access to a lawyer, and he has not been offered political asylum, though many other Honduran street children have been offered asylum based on their “well-founded fear of persecution” should they be returned to their native country.

Ramon has been given no timeline as to when he might be deported, so he could remain in detention indefinitely.

Remember Juanito: Offer Bilingual Services to Latino and Latina Youth in the System:
Juanito was committed to a secure institution for 12-18 months for assault and battery. At his hearing, he had to convey this information to his mother because she understood very little English.

At the institution, when Juanito tried to speak with his mother by telephone, staff did not let him speak in Spanish, often cutting him off while still on the phone. Juanito also was not allowed to speak in Spanish with other Mexican youth at the facility.

A youth advocate learned that the institutional policy prohibited youth from communicating with their friends and family only in cases involving a security breach, which did not apply in Juanito’s case. The advocate counseled Juanito to file a grievance about the policy, and conducted his own investigation, which took nearly six months to complete. The advocate’s report concluded that Juanito should be allowed to speak in Spanish at the institution and to his mother and other family members. Nevertheless, the institution did not change its procedures.

Remember Luis: Nurture Effective Cultural Competency Policies Among Staff Working with Latino and Latina Youth
Luis, a 15-year-old Latino, was arrested for possessing less than ½ ounce of marijuana. He had no previous record of misdemeanors or felonies. He did, however, have a record of truancies and was stopped several times by police while hanging out with his friends.

During Luis’ disposition hearing, the judge ordered him and his caseworker into chambers. As the judge talked to Luis, he noticed that the youth was not looking directly at him. The judge ordered the youth to look at him, which Luis did. But, as time progressed, Luis looked down again. The loss of eye contact infuriated the judge, whose words and tone of voice became harsher. The caseworker attempted to explain that Luis’ downcast eyes were a sign of respect in his culture-youth who are being reprimanded in Luis’ culture bow their heads in respect to show their embarrassment at their actions. He explained that “staring down” authority figures is considered to be highly disrespectful. The judge, however, took Luis’ downcast eyes as an admission of guilt, because he believed that individuals who fail to maintain eye contact nonverbally convey their guilt. The judge felt that Luis’ unwillingness to maintain eye contact signified not only guilt, but also disrespect for authority.

The judge sentenced Luis to two years in a juvenile facility.