Latinx Criminal Justice Professionals

While data readily exists on Latinx disproportionate incarceration and arrest rates (Livingston, 2009; U.S. Criminal Justice Data, 2025), there is limited data available on Latina/os in criminal justice professions (Ortiz, 2018). Additionally, most of the extant literature focuses on the experiences of male officers in the police force, and does not fully capture the role of women, nor the experiences of LGBTQ+ people, nor in other criminal justice professions (Gallardo, 2020a, 2020b; Yudu Li et al., 2023; Dwyer & Colvin, 2022). This section of Construyendo Latinidad focuses on Latinx criminal justice professionals and highlights a unique aspect of Latinx belonging in Utah’s Wasatch front.

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Construyendo Latinidad (Constructing Latinx Identity) in the Intermountain West  Peoples of Utah Revisited

References 

Livingston, G., & Lopez, M. H. (2009, April 7). Hispanics and the Criminal Justice System: Low Confidence, High Exposure. The Pew Research Center. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/race-and-ethnicity/2009/04/07/hispanics-and-the-criminal-justice-system/

 Ortiz, J. (2018). Latinos within Criminal Justice: Lawyers. EWU Student Research and Creative Works Symposium, 11.

 U.S. Criminal Justice Data. (2025). The Sentencing Project. https://www.sentencingproject.org/research/us-criminal-justice-data/

Yudu Li, Lucas Espinoza, Charlotte Hu, and Fei Luo. 2023. “Aspirations of Hispanic Criminal Justice Students to Join Law Enforcement: An Empirical Investigation.” Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice 1–22. doi: 10.1080/15377938.2023.2263880.