City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 9-2019 Law and Society: The Criminalization of Latinx in the United States Gabriela Groenke The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/3421 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact:
[email protected] LAW AND SOCIETY: THE CRIMINALIZATION OF LATINX IN THE UNITED STATES by GABRIELA GROENKE A master’s thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Liberal Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, The City University of New York 2019 © 2019 GABRIELA GROENKE All Rights Reserved ii Law and Society: The Criminalization of Latinx in the United States by Gabriela Groenke This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Liberal Studies in satisfaction of the thesis requirement for the degree of Master of Arts. _________________________ _________________________ Date Leslie Paik Thesis Advisor _________________________ _________________________ Date Elizabeth Macaulay-Lewis Executive Officer THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii ABSTRACT Law and Society: The Criminalization of Latinx in the United States by Gabriela Groenke Advisor: Leslie Paik The United States leads the world in incarceration with just over 2.2 million people in state or federal prisons or local jails in 2014 (Bureau of Justice Statistics 2016). Although the number of incarcerated individuals has declined by about .5 percent since its peak in 2008 (Bureau of Justice Statistics 2016), the fact remains that mass incarceration is an epidemic in the United States.