LAUSR

Latinas are a diverse group consisting of girls and women from various ethnicities, traditions, and histories. In the United States, Mexicans represent the largest Latino group, followed by Puerto Ricans, and Salvadorans. Approximately one third of Latinos in the United States are foreign-born and many live in mixed-status families (Stepler & Brown, 2016). While most Latinas speak Spanish, many do not (Krogstad & Gonzalez-Barrera, 2013). Yet, as a group, Latinas share certain demographics that place them at risk for adverse life outcomes. They lag behind other girls and women when it comes to educational achievement, health insurance coverage, and household income (Stepler & Brown, 2016). Latinas also face discrimination and racism at work, in schools, and in their neighborhoods. These demographic and contextual risk factors place Latinas at risk for involvement in the juvenile and criminal justice systems. Despite these risk factors, Latina girls and women remain largely invisible in criminological research. Research on Latinas in the juvenile justice and criminal justice systems is virtually nonexistent for several reasons. First, Latinos as a whole have historically been classified as White people in state and national surveys of official crime and delinquency. Second, when Latinas are included in the literature, their experiences are often blurred with those of Latino boys and men. Still, it is worth noting that Latinas are more likely than White women to be incarcerated in jails and prisons (Carson & Golinelli, 2014). Indeed, Latina women are incarcerated at 1.2 times the rate of White women (Sentencing Project, 2015). In this special issue, we sought to further understand the lived experiences of Latinas involved in the juvenile and criminal justice systems. To paraphrase feminist scholar Meda Chesney-Lind, we wanted to move beyond an “add Latinas and stir” approach by highlighting the voices and experiences of system-involved Latina girls