Disparity Discrimination Disparity and Discrimination Research Paper

• Length: 2 pages
• Sources: 2
• Subject: Race
• Type: Research Paper
• Paper: #80902474
• Related Topics: Discrimination, Crack Cocaine, Jim Crow Laws, Race And Ethnicity

Excerpt from Research Paper :

This suggests that where racial characteristics are invoked during the process of administering criminal justice, it has been done in order to intentionally subject the minority race to some form of unequal treatment based on his or her race.

It is this orientation that produces the sociological condition called disparity, particularly legislated policy acts unwittingly on underlying biases. So is this noted by Williams (2009), who points to the disparities created inadvertently but owing to core racial prejudices. Williams reports that "a common example of a disparity in the criminal justice system is found in sentencing guidelines. In the 1990s the Sentencing Guidelines and Policy Statements of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 that applies to all federal offenses committed after November 1, 1987 created many disparities (Mustard, 2001)" (Williams, p. 2) Williams points out that the sentencing guidelines, for instance, called for harsher penalties for those guilty of crack/cocaine dealing or possession than for those guilty of cocaine offenses. The price differential between the two would create a clear socioeconomic disparity as a function of the drug policy. The result would be a far greater chance for long-term incarceration for African-Americans -- more often prone to socioeconomic struggles -- than for whites.

This denotes that discrimination and disparity are closely entwined. Indeed, one is unlikely to exist without the other. Today, the economic and cultural inequalities that continue to permeate our society are undeniably correlated to race and ethnicity. This is a consequence of a long history of legal discrimination and the passive allowance for racial disparity. Just as the criminal justice system has long been an instrument used to sustain legal inequalities, so too must it be the forum for the continued reversal of these patterns.

Works Cited:

Banks, C. (2004). Criminal Justice Ethics: Theory And Practice. Sage Publications.

Williams, C. (2009). Disparity…