The origins of the distorted images can be traced to the period during and after the Mexican-American War that ended in 1848. Mexican-Americans were not assimilated as full and equal citizens; instead they were systematically oppressed and their property rights were not protected. Historians and social scientists distorted both the reality and the importance of the bandidos who were a response to the repression; Mexican Americans were stereotyped as having innate criminal tendencies as outlaws. Outmoded theories of biological determinism and cultural deviance also influenced sociologists and psychologists. As a result, their research methods and findings contain both obvious and subtle biased ideologies. Therefore, new research paradigms are needed that deal directly with the problems of racism, exploitation, and the injustices that confront the Hispano American community. Notes and 50 references