Ecological systems in relation to Latinx youth in the juvenile justice system: A narrative literature review

•We used Ecodevelopmental Theory as a framework for conducting and organizing a narrative review of the literature addressing these topics.•Specifically, we explored research addressing multiple contexts in which Latinx youths operate—including family and neighborhoods—to determine recommendations for developing and implementing culturally tailored, multisystemic interventions to prevent initial and continued justice involvement.•The literature was organized according to the following ecological systems categories: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem.•Our review revealed some studies at both the exosystem and macrosystem level; the larger body of literature would greatly benefit from exo- and macro-systemic focused studies that address the impact on this population of structural racism and multiple systems of oppression. We conducted a narrative review of literature focused on Latinx youth in the Juvenile Justice System (JJS). The goal of this review was to identify the behavioral health needs and social and cultural factors that place Latinx youth at disproportionate risk for contact and entrenchment with the JJS. Ecodevelopmental Theory (ET) was used as the guiding framework for this review, and a total of 16 peer reviewed articles from Embase, PsychINFO, and Pubmed were collected, analyzed, and summarized. Consistent with ET, we organized themes from the literature into the following sections: (a) microsystem (i.e., family, psychiatric care, sexual health care, school); (b) mesosystem (i.e., family and social environment); (c) exosystem (i.e., family and neighborhood context, and bicultural stress); and (d) macrosystem (i.e., generational status, cultural stress, social class). Sociopolitical disparities, such as disproportionate sentencing by social class and trauma stemming from political violence, and intersections of cultural variables (e.g., generational status and acculturation) should be closely considered in any prevention and intervention efforts targeting Latinx youths. More research to understand and address the unique needs of this population is also needed.