Behavior that treats people unequally because of their group memberships. Discriminatory behavior, ranging from slights to hate crimes, often begins with negative stereotypes and prejudices.

Southern Poverty Law Center. (n.d.). Test yourself for hidden bias. Retrieved from http://www.tolerance.org/activity/test- yourself-hidden-bias.

(legal) In constitutional law, discrimination is the grant by statute of privileges to a class arbitrarily designated from a sizable number of persons, where no reasonable distinction exists between the favored and disfavored classes. Federal laws, supplemented by court decisions, prohibit discrimination in such areas asemployment, housing, voting rights, education and access to public facilities. They also proscribe discrimination basedon race, age, sex, nationality, disability or religion. In addition, state and local laws can prohibit discrimination in these areas and in others not covered by federal laws.

Discrimination (n.d.). In the Free Dictionary Online, Retrieved March 24, 2016, from http://legal- dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/discrimination.