What percent of incarcerated offenders are latino?

Sure. Get yourself arrested and start counting.

Or if you’d rather do it the easy way, check Federal Annual Statistics.

Try this

More information please. Are you just asking about citizens?

Well, according to this “Latino convicts now represent the largest ethnic population in the federal prison system, accounting for 40 percent of those convicted of federal crimes.” However, 72% of this 40% are non-citizens typically imprisoned for immigration offenses.

Then this says that the “Percentage of adults in state prison who are Hispanic, 1997: 17.0%”

And then this says that in 2007 “Blacks comprise nearly 40% of the US prison population, followed by whites at 34%, and then Latino/Hispanics at about 20%. Other races/ethnicies comprise the remaining 6–7%.”

Of people incarcerated in both prisons and jails all over the US (federal and state), what percent of them are Latino/Hispanic? I know Black and Latinos are overepresented in the criminal system, but I want to know what the estimated number/percent are actually Latino/Hispanic. It doesn’y matter if they are documented (citizens) or not.

@curiousk – If you read my answer, at least in 2007, the percentage was 20%. Latinos/Hispanics are the fastest growing population in US prisons.

If you’re seeking accurate statistics you should look at government websites.

I don’t know specific statistics, but the Mexican Mafia is very organized in the California prisons,

All of them.

except for, uh, you know, the non-latino ones. . .

In California, Hispanics comprise 36% of the population and 38% of the prison population. I know from having been in prison in California that non-citizen Hispanics comprise less than one-eighth of all Hispanics. The “Pisas” or “Border Brothers,” as they are called, are a very distinct group of prisoners in U.S. prisons due, in part, to their language and customs and, in part, because the California Department of Corrections classifies it’s prisoners by race and ethnicity as the first rough sort in keeping rival gangs apart.

Most of the Pisas are subsistence farmers who have been pushed off their farms because NAFTA has thrown them into direct competition with US-subsidized corn. They are here to make a quick score by dropping off a kilo or two of whatever, in exchange for about a year’s worth of what they would earn as farmers. For the most part, they are hard working, cheerful, and eager to get back home to Mexico. They get along with everyone.

Compared to the Nortenos and Surenos, the Mexican Mafia comprises only a tiny fraction of the Hispanics in California prisons, but, like the Italian and Russian Mafias, their members command utmost respect. They would have little or no presence at all if it weren’t for our drug laws, which make drugs such a hugely profitable business.

@Darwin is correct, there is a higher percentage of Hispanics in the Federal system than in the general population nationally, but that is because the immigration laws are Federal laws. Typically, they don’t remain very long in Federal custody, since they are deported fairly rapidly, at about 1.56 million per year. In addition, there are about 20,000 “detainees” languishing in Federal custody awaiting the processing of their asylum applications, which are routinely denied at the first two levels (a major human rights embarrassment). So, the Federal system (which is smaller than California’s) is not particularly indicative of the national picture, which varies considerably by state.

The proportion of non-citizen Hispanics in jails is probably slightly higher than in the state prisons, since many are simply deported rather than referred on to the state or Federal systems.