Disparity and Discrimination

A comparison and contrast of Disparity and Discrimination.

The terms disparity and discrimination are closely related terms but have completely different definitions. The online reference at Dictionary.com (2006) defines disparity as "The condition or fact of being unequal, as in age, rank, or degree; difference" and discrimination as "Treatment or consideration based on class or category rather than individual merit; partiality or prejudice".

To further elaborate, a disparity occurs when factors beyond control cause a group or other classification to be different from another. Thus, there is a difference established; not because of an action against the group but because of uncontrollable factors. An example would be how certain areas of the northern United States do not have large minority populations. If a jury were to be selected for a trial in these areas, the disparity would be that of a predominantly white jury pool with very little minorities to select from. This is how disparity differs from discrimination.

Within disparity in legal terms and distinctions, Walker, Spohn, and Delone (2004) break disparity into two factors: legal factors and extralegal factors. Legal factors would be factors coming from criminal behavior level of offense committed. Extralegal factors would be those stemming from gender, race, lifestyle, etc. and cannot be used in the criminal justice system due these categories are not related to the person's criminal behavior.

Discrimination is the direct result of an individual, group, etc. that uses predetermined prejudices to act upon a person or persons based on factors such as race, religion, sex, social class, etc. An example of discrimination would be how women were not allowed to vote before women's suffrage. Women were unfairly treated or discriminated against by not allowing them to vote due to their gender.

With a better understanding of these two terms, a somewhat clearer representation can be expanded upon with how they relate to the criminal justice arena. Recently, through the power of media outlets such as news reports, newspapers and magazines, racial discrimination has projected when an arrest is made in a predominant minority portion of a city or suburb by a white police officer. Groups looking to protect the rights of minorities are quick to say that police officers are discriminating against minorities by the amount of arrests made of minorities if they reflect a higher number than those of white offenders. This is good example of how disparity could be blamed if were to know for certain discrimination was not occurring. Statistics would show more minority arrests occur than whites due to the demographics of more minorities living with the area of responsibility of the police. This is not a discriminative action but a situation where disparity has influence.

However, with this same example there may be some discrimination discovered if there are not any minority police officers within the department covering this precinct or out patrolling the streets with other officers. Walker, Spohn, and Delone (2004) discuss