A conceptual framework for developing alternative perspectives of the Hispanic experience in criminal justice is explored. Several theoretical approaches to the interaction between Hispanic and other cultural groups have been developed, but none has provided a satisfactory basis for understanding the importance of ethnicity for the Hispanic clients of the courts, the prisons, and the probation and parole systems. Hispanic involvement in criminal justice is examined through a consideration of official data and publicly available statistics. Much of the description relates to the New York Puerto Rican community, focusing upon the correctional institutions which offer the most complete and reliable data. The third chapter reviews literature concerned with the influence of ethnicity on criminal court decisionmaking and empirically examines the sentences given to Puerto Ricans and other Hispanic offenders in a Federal district court in New York City. The final chapter summarizes conclusions, which point to major social dilemmas prevailing in Hispanic communities and suggest that a concern with Hispanic cultural experience of the law in American society is long overdue. Recommendations are directed toward filling gaps in knowledge, and they call for extended research.Sixteen tables of data and approximately 80 references are provided. (Author abstract modified)