5 - Attitudes about Punishment and Policing

Summary

Animus toward Latinos is seeping its way into supposedly race-neutral policies such as crime control and policing. This chapter documents how the “browning” of crime news can prime animus toward Latinos when people are asked to make judgments about criminal justice policies. This animus toward Latinos is demonstrated to have a strong relationship with a desire to increase criminal sentencing, devote more resources to law enforcement, and limit police accountability via body cameras. The connection between animus toward Latinos’ and Whites’ criminal justice policy preferences is consistent with the idea that, for many Americans, crime control policies are a means of social control over disliked minority groups.