A racial/ethnic analysis of total adult male admissions in six Nebraska Department of Correctional Services (DCS) facilities for a 5-year period, from 1987 to 1991, shows Latino admissions almost doubling. Interestingly, the majority of Latino males sentenced to Nebraska penal facilities enter the system from Panhandle County, a sparsely populated rural agricultural county. Census data indicate that Latino prison admissions in Nebraska and, even more so, in Panhandle County are highly disproportionate to respective 1990 state and county population figures. In addition, a comparison of Latino imprisonment rates in eight counties with Latino populations of 1,000 or more shows Latinos entering the prison system at higher rates from smaller rural counties. Finally, bivariate and multivariate analyses of Panhandle County district court records point to a double standard of justice in Panhandle County favoring Anglos over Latinos and Native Americans. This publication was presented to the Graduate College faculty at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, in partial fulfillment of requirements for the Master of Arts degree. It was prepared under the supervision of Professor Jay Corzine, 1992.

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