Disparity And Discrimination

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Disparity and Discrimination Disparity and Discrimination The United States of America is a country consisting of people from many ethnic and racial backgrounds. The diversity of the United States population opens the door for disparity and discrimination between different groups. The criminal justice system is expected to perform justice in a fair and unbiased manner, so even the perception of racial disparity or racial discrimination is a problem. Disparity and discrimination can occur between many types of different groups but this paper will focus on the similarities and differences of racial disparity and racial discrimination in the criminal justice system. Racial disparity can occur in all aspects of the criminal justice system including law enforcement, court procedures, and corrections. “Racial disparity in the criminal justice system exists when the proportion of a racial or ethnic group within the control of the system is greater than the proportion of such groups in the general population” (The Sentencing Project, 2008, p. 1). One example of disparity in the criminal justice system exists in the jails and prisons. Blacks are incarcerated at a much higher rate than whites in respect to the size of each population. According to the United States Bureau of Justice Statistics the incarceration rate in state and local jails for all states was 2289 per 100,000 for blacks and 412 per 100,000 for whites in 2005 (Beck, & Harrison, 2006). Another example of racial disparity in the criminal justice system is the amount of black local law enforcement officers compared to white. According to the United States Bureau of Statistics in 2007 black officers accounted for 11.9% and white officers accounted for 74.7% of local police officers (Reaves, 2010, p. 14). Some people believe that the disparity in the number of black police officers
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