Disparity vs. Discrimination

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Disparity vs. Discrimination (Week One)Shannon CollinsCultural Diversity in Criminal Justice - 423The main question that we have in the fore front of our criminal justice system is "Do we have discrimination in our system from the arrest all the way to the sentence structures?" To be able to compare and contrasts the two defining words disparity and discrimination as they relate to the criminal justice system I will inevitably be answering the question above.

In a thesaurus the word disparity simply means to be different, a lack of equality. So in that we could mean that one person's hair is a disparity to another. The texture or color is different. Put in this sense it is meant in a way that would not cause anyone hurt feelings or to place anyone on guard. Although the word in the above sentence is meant only to state something about one's hair, there are discussions that would entail that the word disparity was the cause that started discrimination.

(Laird, 1999)The word disparity in and of itself is a word that means to be different in a group or set that is placed in front of others that is all. However, in our criminal justice system we have individuals that for whatever reason do not like or have a dislike for those that are not just like them. The 'difference' between those who are placed in front of the others is plain and simple ignorance.

Discrimination is a way of treating others, "it is the unfair treatment of one person or group of others, usually because of a prejudice about race, ethnicity, age, religion, or gender." The way that disparity and discrimination may play a part in the system is that men are different than women. If these two different individuals were to commit...