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37 Whittier L. Rev. 377 (2015-2016)
Los Lazos Viven: California's Death Row and Systematic Latino Lynching

handle is hein.journals/whitlr37 and id is 411 raw text is: LOS LAZOS VIVEN: CALIFORNIA'S DEATH ROW AND SYSTEMATIC LATINO LYNCHING MARITZA PEREZ I. INTRODUCTION In June 1874, Jesus Romo, a Latino, was arrested in La Puente, California on charges of robbery and other crimes. Subsequent to his detention, a group of masked men seized him from the arresting officers, took him outdoors, secured a rope around his neck, and hung him. Local opinion celebrated the lynching of the hardened and blood- stained desperado. I Flash-forward 136 years later to 2010, Alberto Alvarez, a Latino from Palo Alto, California, was sentenced to death for a 2006 altercation with a white police officer in which the police officer was killed. Local media described Alvarez as a cop killer and highlighted how evil he was to have been capable of committing such a savage crime.2 Hardened, blood-stained, evil, savage - these are some of the many dehumanizing words used to describe * University of California, Berkeley School of Law, Class of 2015. I want to thank my dear friends and mentors for the substantive feedback on this article and for always supporting my passion for social justice, particularly criminal justice reform. I also want to thank my parents: Bertha Rios; Sebastian Rios; and Florencio Perez. As a child, I witnessed many of the obstacles they encountered as Mexican immigrants in the U.S. As an adult, I have come to understand that they have experienced much more than I will ever know. Thank you for sacrificing your own dreams to help make mine come true. I am infinitely grateful. 1. Richard Delgado, The Law of the Noose: A History of Latino Lynching, 44 HARV. C.R-C.L.L. REV. 297, 301-302 (2009). 2. Henry K. Lee, 'Evil' Cop Killer Is Sentenced to Death (Feb. 9, 2010 4:00 AM), http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Evil- cop-killer-is- sentenced-to- death- 3273428.php.

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