ABSTRACT
The role of the criminal justice system—as provoking, controlling, and escalating the disorder—will undoubtedly figure prominently into the research—as it has in all other civil disorders. This analysis has documented police arrest trends and the characteristics of persons arrested. The database contains the records of all 7,056 adults arrested and held for arraignment on felony or misdemeanor charges within the Los Angeles Judicial District between April 30, 1992, and May 9, 1992. Contrary to the pattern observed with males, slightly more black women were arrested than Latino women. It was only in the arrests of men that the racial/ethnic disparity emerged: with far more Latinos than blacks taken into custody. Men were more likely to be arrested for civil disorder: 33 percent vs. 20 percent for women. Arrested blacks are somewhat overrepresented, but Latinos are somewhat underrepresented. Finally, older persons are hardly arrested at all compared to their distribution in the population.
