Introduction
Discrimination and disparity play a very important role in today’s society. Their roles are even more pronounced in criminal justice system. The two terms are usually interchanged; however, they refer to different things though they share similarities. Disparity refers to the lack of equality between groups or individuals. It also refers to the absence of similarity between two or more groups or people. Discrimination is the differential or unequal treatment of a certain group of individuals based on factors like race, social status, religious beliefs, gender and others. Discrimination usually results in prejudice and segregation (Darrell, 2003).
Comparing and Contrasting Disparity and Discrimination
Disparity is constituted of two factors: legal and extralegal factors. Legal factors are those which provide an explanation or basis for the decisions regarding a person’s criminal behavior or record. These factors include a suspect’s criminal record or the nature/ form of the crime and others. In the Criminal Justice a decision can be made based on the consideration of these factors (The Leadership Conference, 2011). Extralegal factors are not considered when coming up with a decision in the Criminal Justice system. These include factors like race, social class, gender and sex.
An example of disparity can be observed in the racial disparities which occur in the justice system. This may occur when a large and dominant group is compared to a minority group. For example between blacks and whites in the United States; in Missouri whites account for above 97 percent and blacks 0.5 % of the population. Statistics indicate that out of every 100,000 inmates in prisons, 170 were white compared to 815 blacks (The Sentencing Project, 2008). When population estimates from Missouri are used, it is clear that disparity is present. This is because the figures do not take into account the fact that the population sizes are not equal and have led to the misconception that minority communities have higher probabilities of becoming criminals.
Discrimination can be exemplified in many ways. An example is when a judgment is passed by a judge based not on evidence but on preconceived notions. In court, if a Middle Eastern woman is sentenced for making terrorist threats based on her ethnicity and not evidence, this is an example of discrimination. The judge would have judged her based on presumptions about Middle Easterners which is wrong. Another example is that racial discrimination which resulted in segregation of minority races. There were separate schools for blacks and whites until this was abolished by an act of parliament in the US. Some judges have also been known to convict minority races like Blacks and Hispanics based on their race rather than solid evidence (LeAnna, 2002).
Conclusion
Both discrimination and disparity are similar because they both result in wrong assumptions and subsequent unlawful sentencing of innocents. The suspects are usually judged on harsher scales due to the various factors involved. The justice system needs to make improvements so as to minimize the occurrences of disparity or discrimination. This will aid the justice system be perceived as truly free and fair (The Leadership Conference, 2011).
References
Darrell W. (2003). Hit discriminators where it hurts. Black Enterprise, 34(4), 28.
LeAnna J. (2002). Race-based premiums. Black Enterprise, 32(11), 282. Retrieved May 7, 2011, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 121993206).
New York City Commission on Human Rights. (2003) Discrimination Against Muslims, Arabs, and South Asians Since 9/11. Available at www.nyc.gov/html/cchr/pdf/sur_report.pdf
The Leadership Conference. (2011). Justice on Trial. Available at http://www.civilrights.org/publications/justice-on-trial/
The Sentencing Project (2008).Reducing Racial Disparity in the Criminal Justice System. Available at www.sentencingproject.org/doc/.../rd_reducingracialdisparity.pdf
