UTEP Forum to Focus on Immigrants, Criminal Justice

Last Updated on October 07, 2020 at 12:00 PM

Originally published October 07, 2020

By Daniel Perez

UTEP Communications

The University of Texas at El Paso has organized a virtual mini-conference Oct. 9, 2020, about the experiences of immigrants and other marginalized groups with the U.S. criminal justice system along the U.S.-Mexico border region.

The University of Texas at El Paso has organized a virtual mini-conference Oct. 9, 2020, about the experiences of immigrants and other marginalized groups with the U.S. criminal justice system along the U.S.-Mexico border region.

“Justice on the Border,” a one-day event, is geared toward researchers, policymakers, criminal justice practitioners and other stakeholders who are interested in how the justice system treats Latinx individuals and other relegated populations (U.S. citizens and non-citizens), and the role that immigration status plays in the legal system.

The conference, scheduled from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. MDT, will start with live keynote presentations. Topics will include immigration/crime myth, and the history and future of police-minority community relations. A small number of selected live research symposia will follow those lectures. The conference will conclude with a session for interested attendees who want to network, and a pre-recorded poster session that showcases student research.

Jennifer Eno Louden, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology and one of the conference’s lead organizers, said that recent studies have highlighted how ethnic minority groups are disparately affected by policies and practices in the U.S. criminal justice system, and that more needs to be learned about Latinx people and immigration.

“Our focus on these understudied, but growing populations, will be highly relevant to scholars and policymakers alike, as well as criminal justice agencies in the U.S.-Mexico border region,” Louden said.

This conference is part of UTEP’s College of Liberal Arts’ Dean’s Interdisciplinary Lecture Series. The departments of Psychology and Criminal Justice are the event’s sponsors.

Click here to register. Queries can be directed to justiceconference@utep.edu.