...There is no hiding the fact that both disparity and discrimination are alive and well in the criminal justice field. When reading the words disparity and discrimination, at first glance one might think of them being the same. When we take a closer look at the two the definitions when it pertains to the criminal justice system, they become quite different. It is an important task to identify the two definitions in the criminal justice system, and have an open mind to the cause of disparity rather than to assume discrimination. The first thing we must do is define both disparity and discrimination. Disparity is defined as lack of similarity or equality toward a group of people. For example if someone was to make the statement, a prison population that holds 100 inmates, out of those 100 inmates 75% of them where black inmates. One would quickly come to the conclusion that the justice system in this area is creating disparity of treatment towards the black population. But in actuality this is not the case. The area that the population was pulled from was an area that was predominantly black. This example would be the case of disparity not discrimination. Disparity is not necessarily a choice; it’s what is in the focus area. One area in south may be harsher on burglaries and more lenient on drug related crimes. But on the surface in that area, more black people may be committing more drug related crimes. So it would appear that the courts are sentencing more time toward...
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...1 Disparity and Discrimination By Jennifer Cruz CJS/221 8/7/15 Alan Hazen 2 Disparity and Discrimination In a prejudice world, it’s important to note the differences between disparity and discrimination, but especially when serving justice in the courts. Everyone regardless of color, sex, sexual orientation, race, and religion are entitled to fair treatment, but it doesn’t always happen that way. In this paper examples will be given of the unfair treatment towards certain race of people, and what the consequences of that treatment is. It will also explain a situation of which disparity exists, why, and how it all relates to the criminal justice field. Disparity Disparity is a situation which a particular group of people are involved. A good example would be the incarceration rate of black men, compared to any other race. Would is the cause of this? When looking at the statistics of disparity in crime, we learn many things. Who is effected the most, which race, class, or sex is most likely to be arrested, and then the next question is why? Why are black men more likely than men of other races to be incarcerated despite blacks making up only 13% of the population? And what can we do to make it fairer towards everyone regardless of what they are? These are important questions to ask when regarding race in the criminal justice field. Discrimination Discrimination is treatment that is different between different groups of people, such as religious groups, groups of...
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...Cultural Diversity in Criminal Justice Brent Weaver Cultural Diversity in Criminal Justice, CJA/423 Torria Richardson 5-30-11 Cultural Diversity in Criminal Justice Society has shown racial diversity among communities. Racial disparity can be found in the criminal justice system. A system designed to be fair and equal to individuals is not existent. Racial diversity can be found at the time of arrest to the time of sentencing. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the diversity in sentencing. Case studies will be discussed throughout this paper. Leaders of criminal justice are not exempt of racial diversity. Racial diversity has changed over the years, but racial diversity remains strong in sentencing minorities. Diversity is not biased of offenses. Racial diversity can be seen in the smallest of charges, such as a traffic stop to the most serious sentence of the death penalty. Most of the sentences are because profiling an individual of minority. African Americans are likely to be the targeted racial group. Hispanic individuals are likely to be another racial group profiled for harsher sentencing. Racial disparity in the criminal justice system should always be considered a violation of ideas of the forefather’s of this nation as equal treatment under the laws of the United States Constitution. Many reasons for racial disparity can be identified in the sentencing process. The sentencing process is a difficult process, and adding racial bias may create a...
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...significant difference between discrimination and disparity, yet they are similar because they both focus on the sentencing of the individual for a crime in court or an arrest and will assist in making a decision on the assumption or determination of guilt. Discrimination can branch out into many different areas and can be a means to an end, which is not the same that can be said for disparity. Disparity Disparity is the lack of similarity between two or more people, which is often construed as discrimination. In criminal justice, the crucial distinction is between legal and extralegal factors. Legal factors include the seriousness of the offense, aggravating or mitigating circumstances, or an offender’s prior criminal record. An example of this is a court deciding on the amount of time an individual will have to serve based on them breaking a law by murder, burglary, rape, etc. Extralegal factors include race, ethnicity, gender, social class, and lifestyle. These are not legitimate reasons for a court decision to be based on. A judge should not decide sentencing based on their nationality, the community from which they reside, or the appearance of the individual when they show up for their hearing. This type of disparity is often viewed as discrimination and can be used to have cases overturned if proven someone was judged based on any of these factors. It has been noted that possible contributors to disparities in the justice system are the nature of offenses, differential...
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...Disparity and Discrimination There are many different situations that occur within the criminal justice system. However, the ones that are being used involve court procedures and law enforcement. The situations that will be discussed are disparity and discrimination existing in the criminal justice system. In certain situations disparity can be a result of discrimination depending on the situation. There will be definitions, examples, comparison, and contrast of disparity and discrimination. The disparity consists of two factors, which are called legal and extralegal and they may not necessarily mean discrimination. The legal factor provides legitimate base explanation for the decisions on the individual’s criminal behavior and criminal record. For example, in the court when deciding on the sentence or the amount of time that the individual will have to serve based on breaking law by murder, burglary, rape, etc. Another example, law enforcement arrest a person for burglary because of the person past criminal history, and the fact that they were not too far away from the scene of the crime. In addition, the extralegal factor includes lifestyle, gender, nationality, and class status, which are not legitimate reasons to base decisions on. For example in the court, deciding whether to sentence the individual or the amount of time that individual will have to be serve will not be based on their nationality, but on statics of that population and community, and appearance...
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...Disparity and Discrimination 2 Disparity and DiscriminationThere are many different situations that occur within the criminal justice system. However, theones that are being used involve court procedures and law enforcement. The situations that will bediscussed are disparity and discrimination existing in the criminal justice system. In certain situationsdisparity can be a result of discrimination depending on the situation.There will be definitions, examples,comparison, and contrast of disparity and discrimination.The disparity consists of two factors, which are called legal and extralegal and they may notnecessarily mean discrimination. The legal factor provides legitimate base explanation for the decisionson the individual’s criminal behavior and criminal record. For example, in the court when deciding on thesentence or the amount of time that the individual will have to serve based on breaking law by murder, burglary, rape, etc. Another example, law enforcement arrest a person for burglary because of the person past criminal history, and the fact that they were not too far away from the scene of the crime.In addition, the extralegal factor includes lifestyle, gender, nationality, and class status, which arenot legitimate reasons to base decisions on. For example in the court, deciding whether to sentence theindividual or the amount of time that individual will have to be serve will not be based on their nationality, but on statics of that population and community, and appearance...
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...The criminal justice system uses a lot of terminology that can be hard to understand, two words commonly used are disparity and discrimination. In this essay I will define and give current examples of the terminology. I will also explain why knowing the difference between the two is important in the criminal justice system. Disparity and discrimination are similar terms. You might be asking yourself what is disparity? Disparity can be defined as a lack of similarity or equality. Diversity can be defined as the condition of having or being composed of differing elements. One current and highly controversial form of discrimination that we are facing worldwide is same sex marriages. No matter if you are for it or against it you have seen or been affected in some way by the topic. By not allowing same sex marriages to be validated we are discriminating against the gay and lesbian community. There are still many forms of discrimination that take place in today’s society; unfortunately a lot of discrimination is racially based. We also see a lot of gender based discrimination; typically men are still paid more than women for the exact same job. America is the most racially diverse demographic nation in the world. Many people working the criminal justice systems are aware of the racial disparity and would like to counteract it. Racial disparity in the criminal justice system exists when the proportion of the racial or ethnic group within control of the system is greater than the...
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...There are many different situations that occur within the criminal justice system. However, the ones that are being used involve court procedures and law enforcement. The situations that will be discussed are disparity and discrimination existing in the criminal justice system. In certain situations disparity can be a result of discrimination depending on the situation. There will be definitions, examples, comparison, and contrast of disparity and discrimination. Disparity consists of two factors, which are called legal and extralegal and they may not necessarily mean discrimination. The legal factor provides legitimate base explanation for the decisions on the individual’s criminal behavior and criminal record. For example, in the court when deciding on the sentence or the amount of time that the individual will have to serve based on breaking law by murder, burglary, rape, etc. Another example, law enforcement arrest a person for burglary because of the person past criminal history, and the fact that they were not too far away from the scene of the crime. In addition, the extralegal factor includes lifestyle, gender, nationality, and class status, which are not legitimate reasons to base decisions on. For example in the court, deciding whether to sentence the individual or the amount of time that individual will have to be serve will not be based on their nationality, but on statics of that population and community, and appearance of the individual. According to Toensing...
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...America’s Justice System: Justice for All? ENG122 English Composition II Instructor: August 26, 2013 America’s Judicial System: Justice for All? Law enforcement can be an admirable job for anyone who takes this position seriously. It is a job that has its rewards. Conflict comes to light when the differences of opinions regarding the disparities in the judicial system on all levels of law enforcement. Even though there are many whites that do not agree with the facts, the statistics show that African Americans and Hispanics are incarcerated at a much higher rate than whites. The judicial system in the United States has shown favoritism and bias towards white defendants, especially the wealthier white defendants for hundreds of years. There are racial disparities that burden our judicial system with the appearance and often the reality of unfairness. Visit any criminal trial in America today and you will see that the judge, the prosecutor, the court stenographer, the clerk, the bailiff, other various court personnel, the defense attorneys, and more often, the jurors are all white. One excellent example of these disparities would be in the recent “George Zimmerman” trial in Sanford, Florida a town who has allegedly had a history of racial violence and judicial disparities in and out of the court room (Maur, 2010). There are questions often asked, is there justice for “all” in our criminal courts and judicial system, and what is racial disparity? Some...
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...Disparity and discrimination paper Jesse Wilkie CJS/221 Frank Merenda 8/21/2015 Disparity and discrimination Within the criminal justice system there are various situations that take place. Nevertheless, the ones that are actually used include court procedures and law administration. Circumstances that will be deliberated on within this paper are disparity situations and discrimination situations. Depending on the situation, disparity can result in discrimination. Further included will be definitions, examples and comparing as well as contrasting of discrimination and disparity. The two factors referred to as legal and extralegal are the factors in which disparity consist of. These factors don’t essentially mean discrimination. Provided by the lawful factor are valid explanations for the judgments made on the person’s unlawful behavior and felonious record. An example of this would be once an individual is in court and the judge is determining the sentence or how much time that the person will have to serve based on the crime which could be murder, burglary, rape, etc. Another example would be an individual being arrested for breaking and entering or burglary based on their past unlawful history, and the fact that they were in the area where the crime took place at the time that...
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...2012 What should be done about racial disparities in the sentencing of criminals? I. Thesis Statement: Racial disparities in the sentencing of criminals is a problem in contemporary society and it must be solved II. Topic Sentence HB: It is necessary to examine the history and background of racial disparities in the sentencing of criminals before considering possible solutions. A. In 1964 Congress passed the Civil Rights Act prohibiting discrimination in employment. Yet today, three out of every ten African American males born in the United States will serve time in prison, a status that renders their prospects for legitimate employment bleak and often bars them from obtaining professional licenses. In 1965 Congress passed the Voting Rights Act. Yet today, 31 percent of all black men in Alabama and Florida are permanently disenfranchised as a result of felony convictions. Nationally, 1.4 million black men have lost the right to vote under these laws. Congress also passed the Immigration and Nationality Act, which sought to eliminate the vestiges of racial discrimination in the nation's immigration laws. Yet today, Hispanic and Asian Americans are routinely and sometimes explicitly singled out for immigration enforcement. In 1968 Congress passed the Fair Housing Act. Yet today, the current housing for approximately 2 million Americans – two-thirds of them African American or Hispanic – is a prison or jail cell. (http://www.civilrights.org/publications/justice-on-trial/) ...
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...Disparity and Discrimination Essay This paper will compare and contrast disparity and discrimination as they relate to the criminal justice system. The discussion will be supported with examples from law enforcement practices, court procedures, corrections populations. When you first look at discrimination and disparity one may believe they were similar but that is further from the truth. When people see a great number of blacks or Hispanics arrested for many drug related incidents it may seen discrimination had a lot to do with it whether it occur at the start of an arrest, during the justice procedure, or during the sentencing process. Although it seem very easy to come to that conclusion; it is vital that people have a receptive mine and look further for the reason of disparity instead of believing what they see from the exterior. The way to find out whether the case is disparity or discriminating is to investigate the whole case from the beginning to the end, and along with examination the population of that particular town. Maybe the truth will be revealed, do the justice system contribute or intentional discriminate or is it disparity without any form discrimination. The defining of disparity according to Schrantz and McElary (2000), racial disparity in the criminal justice system exists when the proportion of a racial/ethnic group within the control of the system is greater than the proportion of such groups in the general population. There are many cause of...
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...Racial disparity in u.s prisons MBOGO .W. APOLLO (MOI). Professor: Institution affiliated Date: Racial disparity in prisons in America can be conceptualized as a situation where the population of a specific group of people is the most in the criminal justice system as compared to the general population. Prisons in U.S.A are a significant constituent of the criminal justice system. The main function of the American prisons is to protect society from violation of law, to rehabilitate also punish the law breakers in order to assist them to be responsible members of the society. The prisons in the state continue to grow in order to meet the demands of the correctional and the criminal justice system in general. However, the trend in the justice system, especially in the prisons, is characterized by ethnic disparity. This normally compromises the level of justice dispensation. It has been a controversial issue for several decades among the prisons in the state. Some individuals seem to defy the concept of existence of disparity in the justice system. They believe that it does not exist. For instance, statistics that were presented by Marc Mauer proved that if the argument that there existed racial discrimination in the prisons, then the extraordinary rise in the American prisons in the past three decades would be explained in six fold increase. This to him would eventually lead to incarceration of two million Americans. For instance, “one in every eight African –American...
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...2015 Putting Racial Disparity to an End: My overall topic is about prisons, and why the majority of the prison make up involves ethnic groups, such as Hispanics and African Americans. I want to know could reduce racial disparity in the criminal justice system, in these prisons. I personally think that we can reduce the racial disparity rate in these prisons, and the criminal justice system. It will take a lot of hard work and take a lot of important people. It first will start with the people that get the people for the crime, and secondly on how they pursue the crime. Is it as bad as they are making it seem? Are they trying to set an example out of these ethnic groups? What specifically are they trying to do? Why haven’t they be stopped? In order to change this disparity these questions will have to be answered. African Americans make up the majority of the make up in most of these prisons. One million of the 2.3 million people in prisons are black. 60% of the populations in these prisons are of ethnic minorities. Only a quarter of the U.S. population are made up of ethnic groups. The fact that majority incarcerated in prisons are black and Hispanic seems to be impossible, this is how we know there’s some injustices going on in the criminal justice field. If we want to put this to an end it’s going to take a lot of hard work. This kind of thing would start with the police first. If the police main thing is set out to get ethnic minorities. Racial disparity needs to be reduced...
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...Disparity and Discrimination Darion Clay CJS/221 July 12, 2015 Linda Fisher-Lewis In the criminal justice system both disparity and discrimination is used because I can't say that police officers do not focus more on the black community than the white because it is really happening right know I'm seeing it with my own eyes. I also see if you have money you can get away with anything, but if you are poor it is nothing they can do for you just like they look at the way you was raised and where you was raised at. Criminal justice is just like any other jobs you would get it's not about what you can do it's about who you know and the color of your skin and that is discrimination. These days they try not to discriminate because they want to seem like they still have racism, but you can't hide it at all. Criminal justice also has and shows the great differences, between people of all colors and that is disparity. It's when they see how you present yourself to them and what they can see and what you know. The different between disparity and discrimination is disparity is when something is not the same and unequal when discrimination is when someone shows prejudice against someone else that is the differences. The similarities between disparity and discrimination is because they both treat people unequal it's like they both show prejudice are not the same treatment...
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