Legal Definitions - absolute disparity

Definition: Absolute disparity is a way to measure if a jury pool is fair or not. It is used when the jury pool does not represent the community it is supposed to serve. For example, if a jury pool is made up of only white people in a community where most people are Black. Absolute disparity is calculated by subtracting the percentage of a group in the jury pool from the percentage of that group in the general population.

Example: In a community where 30% of the population is Hispanic, but the jury pool is made up of only 10% Hispanic people, there is an absolute disparity of 20%. This means that the jury pool is not representative of the community and may not be fair.

Explanation: Absolute disparity is used to measure if a jury pool is fair or not. It compares the percentage of a group in the jury pool to the percentage of that group in the general population. If there is a big difference between the two percentages, it means that the jury pool is not representative of the community and may not be fair. In the example given, the absolute disparity of 20% means that the jury pool is not representative of the Hispanic population in the community.