News Analysis
An analysis I conducted of more than 5 million criminal records found that nearly one in three Hispanics are being assigned the label “white” in official Department of Corrections databases.
White by Default
For the justice system, the failure to identify Hispanics correctly is not a research fluke but a feature of the bureaucracy.
U.S. Coast Guard police and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents investigate the scene of a shooting outside Coast Guard Island in Alameda in Oakland, Calif., on Oct. 24, 2025. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images