Thinking critically about race bias and culpability perceptions of Latinxs in the criminal justice system

Abstract

Critical race theory (CRT) guides insight into structural and institutional discrimination for identifying causes of race disparities in the United States social and political systems. Disparities are pronounced in the criminal justice system (CJS) for Latinx people, and negative attitudes exist about those incarcerated. LatCrit theory promotes an examination of unique issues creating disparities for Latinx people. Given historical, negative stereotypes of Mexican Americans as a criminal type, even exonerees face the taint of criminalization, and this influences perceptions of them. Following LatCrit theory, we examined the relationship between negative Mexican American stereotypes and perceived internal and external culpability with mediation from defendant rights attitudes for a Mexican American exoneree. With data from a national, adult online sample (N = 120), negative stereotypes about Mexican Americans predicted internal culpability with partial mediation from defendant rights beliefs, but the relationship was not found for external culpability. Negative stereotypes were associated with beliefs in the Mexican American exoneree's inherent criminality. With a LatCrit approach, quantitative findings lend insight into the legal decision making process to produce bias. Results highlight the need for continued focus on Latinx people's unique experiences and for change in methods to improve post-carceral reintegration and eliminate structural and systemic race bias.