Gringo justice is a sociohistorical critical theory developed by Chicano sociologist, lawyer, and activist Alfredo Mirandé in 1987, who used it to provide an alternative explanation for Chicano criminality in the United States and challenge the racist assumption that Chicanos were inherently criminal, or biologically, psychologically, or culturally predisposed to engage in criminal behavior. The theory is applied by Chicano and Latino scholars to explain the double standard of justice in the criminal justice system between Anglo-Americans and Chicanos/Latinos. The theory also challenges stereotypes of Chicanos/Latinos as "bandidos," "gang-bangers," and "illegal alien drug smugglers," which have historically developed and are maintained to justify social control over Chicano/Latino people in the US.
Scholars cite how Latinos are far more likely than Anglo-Americans to be incarcerated, rather than granted probation, when convicted of a felony offense (even when appropriate legal variables are considered), that Latinos are handed down significantly longer prison sentences (particularly in regard to felony drug offenses), and that Latinos are racially profiled at disproportionate rates, as evidence of contemporary gringo justice. Latinos are also overrepresented in the prison population and as victims of police shootings with deadly force. However, scholars note that the topic remains relatively unexplored and neglected, partially attributing this to a lack of interest but also to difficulties in conducting research on Latinos in the criminal justice system because of the way they are racially classified in the US.
Gringo justice is applied against Chicanos and Latinos by the Anglo-American criminal justice system in order to maintain their social, economic, and political domination in modern capitalist society, so that they can remain, as Mirandé states, "a vital source of cheap and dependent labor for the developing capitalistic system." Scholars also note that maintaining gringo justice works to reduce "any threat to conceptions of ethnic superiority that may be held by some whites."
Term
Alfredo Mirandé states that he used the term gringo justice because it would have been illogical in his view to characterize the American criminal justice system as anything other than an unjust system for Chicanos, or a system that only worked for white people. As Mirandé describes:Titles such as Law, Justice, and the Chicano and Chicanos and the Legal and Judicial System were considered and discarded because they implied that the American legal and judicial system had been just and equitable in its treatment of Chicanos. The title Gringo Justice seemed to more accurately capture the reality of the Chicano experience before the American tribunals.
Theory
In his book Gringo Justice (1987), Mirandé outlines the theoretical underpinnings of gringo justice. He then lists the basic or essential components of gringo justice. These basic principles of the theory are explained by Mirandé as follows: