Blinding prosecutors to defendants’ race: A policy proposal to reduce unconscious bias in the criminal justice system

by Sunita Sah, Christopher T. Robertson,& Shima B. Baughman
February 16, 2017

Author Affiliation

Sah, Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University; Robertson, College of Law, University of Arizona; Baughman, College of Law, University of Utah. Corresponding author’s e-mail: [email protected]

References

1. Bibas, S. (2009). Prosecutorial regulation versus prosecutorial accountability. University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 157, 959–1016.

2. Bibas, S. (2006). Transparency and participation in criminal procedure. New York University Law Review, 86, 911–912.

3. Englich, B. (2006). Blind or biased? Justitia’s susceptibility to anchoring effects in the courtroom based on given numerical representations. Law & Policy, 28, 497–514.

4. Rabin, R. L. (1972). Agency criminal referrals in the federal system: An empirical study of prosecutorial discretion. Stanford Law Review, 24, 1036–1091.

5. Leonetti, C. (2012). When the emperor has no clothes III: Personnel policies and conflicts of interest in prosecutors’ offices. Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy, 22, 53–92.

6. Wayte v. United States, 470 U.S. 598 (1985).

7. McCleskey v. Kemp, 481 U.S. 279 (1987).

8. Guerino, P., Harrison, P. M., & Sabol, W. J. (2011). Prisoners in 2010 (NCJ 236096). Retrieved from Bureau of Justice Statistics website: http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p10.pdf

9. Glaze, L. E. (2011). Correctional populations in the United States, 2010 (NCJ 236319). Retrieved from Bureau of Justice Statistics website: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/cpus10.pdf

10. Fagan, J., & Meares, T. L. (2008). Punishment, deterrence and social control: The paradox of punishment in minority communities. Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, 6, 173–229.

11. Sommers, S. R., & Marotta, S. A. (2014). Racial disparities in legal outcomes on policing, charging decisions, and criminal trial proceedings. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1, 103–111.

12. Mitchell, O. (2005). A meta-analysis of race and sentencing research: Explaining the inconsistencies. Journal of Quantatative Criminolgy, 21, 439–466.

13. Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-120, 21 U.S.C. § 1789, 124 Stat. 2372 (2010).

14. Tonry, M. (2011). Punishing race: A continuing American dilemma. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

15. Burke, A. S. (2006). Improving prosecutorial decision making: Some lessons of cognitive science. William & Mary Law Review, 47, 1587–1633.

16. Smith, A. (2001). Can you be a good person and a good prosecutor? Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics, 14, 355–400.

17. Kutateladze, B., Lynn, V., & Liang, E. (2012). Do race and ethnicity matter in prosecution? A review of empirical studies. Retrieved from Vera Institute of Justice website: http://www.vera.org/sites/default/files/resources/downloads/race-and-ethnicity-in-prosecution-first-edition.pdf

18. Johnson, J. L. (2014). Mass incarceration on trial: A remarkable court decision and the future of prisons in America. New York, NY: New Press.

19. Henning, K. N. (2013). Criminalizing normal adolescent behavior in communities of color: The role of prosecutors in juvenile justice reform. Cornell Law Review, 98, 383–462.

20. Levinson, J. D., & Young, D. (2010). Different shades of bias: Skin tone, implicit racial bias, and judgments of ambiguous evidence. West Virginia Law Review, 112, 307–350.

21. Correll, J., Park, B., Judd, C. M., & Wittenbrink, B. (2007). The influence of stereotypes on decisions to shoot. European Journal of Social Psychology, 37, 1102–1117.

22. Hartney, C., & Silva, F. (2007). And justice for some: Differential treatment of youth of color in the justice system. Retrieved from National Council on Crime and Delinquency website: http://www.nccdglobal.org/sites/default/files/publication_pdf/justice-for-some.pdf

23. Rattan, A., Levine, C. S., Dweck, C. S., Eberhardt, J. L., & Avenanti, A. (2012). Race and the fragility of the legal distinction between juveniles and adults. PLOS ONE, 7(5), Article e36680.

24. Goff, P. A., Jackson, M. C., Di Leone, B. A. L., Culotta, C. M., & DiTomasso, N. A. (2014). The essence of innocence: Consequences of dehumanizing Black children. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106, 526–545.

25. Sah, S., & Fugh-Berman, A. (2013). Physicians under the influence: Social psychology and industry marketing strategies. Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics, 41, 665–672.

26. Sah, S. (2013). Essays on conflicts of interest in medicine. Business & Society, 52, 666–678.

27. Johnson, S. L. (1988). Unconscious racism and the criminal law. Cornell Law Review, 73, 1016–1037.

28. Lawrence, C. R. (1987). The id, the ego, and equal protection: Reckoning with unconscious racism. Stanford Law Review, 38, 317–388.

29. Babcock, L., & Loewenstein, G. (1997). Explaining bargaining impasse: The role of self-serving biases. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 11, 109–126.

30. Sah, S., & Larrick, R. (2015). I am immune: A sense of invulnerability predicts increased acceptance of, and influence from, conflicts of interest (Cornell University Working Papers).

31. Sah, S., & Loewenstein, G. (2010). Effect of reminders of personal sacrifice and suggested rationalizations on residents’ self-reported willingness to accept gifts: A randomized trial. Journal of the American Medical Association, 304, 1204–1211.

32. Dror, I. E., & Cole, S. A. (2010). The vision in “blind” justice: Expert perception, judgment, and visual cognition in forensic pattern recognition. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 17, 161–167.

33. Sah, S. (2012). Conflicts of interest and your physician: Psychological processes that cause unexpected changes in behavior. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 40, 482–487.

34. Levinson, J. D. (2007). Forgotten racial equality: Implicit bias, decisionmaking, and misremembering. Duke Law Journal, 57, 345–424.

35. Oliver, M. B. (1999). Caucasian viewers’ memory of Black and White criminal suspects in the news. Journal of Communication, 49, 46–60.

36. Eberhardt, J. L., Davies, P. G., Purdie-Vaughns, V. J., & Johnson, S. L. (2006). Looking deathworthy: Perceived stereotypicality of Black defendants predicts capital-sentencing outcomes. Psychological Science, 17, 383–386.

37. Viglione, J., Hannon, L., & DeFina, R. (2011). The impact of light skin on prison time for Black female offenders. The Social Science Journal, 48, 250–258.

38. U.S. Department of Justice. (2014). Guidance for Federal law enforcement agencies regarding the use of race, ethnicity, gender, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Retrieved from http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/ag/pages/attachments/2014/12/08/use-of-race-policy.pdf

39. Haidt, J. (2001). The emotional dog and its rational tail: A social intuitionist approach to moral judgment. Psychological Review, 108, 814–834.

40. Gunia, B. C., Barnes, C. M., & Sah, S. (2014). The morality of larks and owls: Unethical behavior depends on chronotype as well as time of day. Psychological Science, 25, 2271–2274.

41. Pronin, E., Lin, D. Y., & Ross, L. (2002). The bias blind spot: Perceptions of bias in self versus others. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 369–391.

42. Pronin, E., Gilovich, T., & Ross, L. (2004). Objectivity in the eye of the beholder: Divergent perceptions of bias in self versus others. Psychological Review, 111, 781–799.

43. Davis, A. J. (2013). In search of racial justice: The role of the prosecutor. New York University Journal of Legislation and Public Policy, 16, 821–851.

44. Sah, S., & Loewenstein, G. (2014). Nothing to declare: Mandatory and voluntary disclosure leads advisors to avoid conflicts of interest. Psychological Science, 25, 575–584.

45. Plant, E. A. (2004). Responses to interracial interactions over time. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 1458–1471.

46. Rosenthal, R. (1978). How often are our numbers wrong? American Psychologist, 33, 1005–1008.

47. Goldin, C., & Rouse, C. (2000). Orchestrating impartiality: The impact of “blind” auditions on female musicians. The American Economic Review, 90, 715–741.

48. Schulz, K. F., & Grimes, D. A. (2002). Blinding in randomised trials: Hiding who got what. The Lancet, 359, 696–700.

49. Wood, L., Egger, M., Gluud, L. L., Schulz, K. F., Juni, P., Altman, D. G., . . . Sterne, J. A. C. (2008). Empirical evidence of bias in treatment effect estimates in controlled trials with different interventions and outcomes: Meta-epidemiological study. British Medical Journal, 336, 601–605.

50. Psaty, B. M., & Prentice, R. L. (2010). Minimizing bias in randomized trials: The importance of blinding. Journal of the American Medical Association, 304, 793–794.

51. Snodgrass, R. (2006). Single- versus double-blind reviewing: An analysis of the literature. ACM SIGMOD Record, 35(3), 8–21.

52. Carrington, P. D. (1992). One law: The role of legal education in the opening of the legal profession since 1776. Florida Law Review, 44, 501–603.

53. Dysart, J. E., Lawson, V. Z., & Rainey, A. (2012). Blind lineup administration as a prophylactic against the postidentification feedback effect. Law and Human Behavior, 36, 312–319.

54. Garrett, B. L. (2014). Eyewitness identifications and police practices: A Virginia case study. Virginia Journal of Criminal Law, 2, 2013–2026.

55. Wells, G. L. (1988). Eyewitness identification: A system handbook. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Carswell Legal.

56. U.S. Department of Justice, Technical Working Group for Eyewitness Evidence. (1999). Eyewitness evidence: A guide for law enforcement (NCJ 178240). Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/178240.pdf

57. Famer, J. J. J. (2001, April 18). Attorney general guidelines for preparing and conducting photo and live lineup identification procedures [Letter]. Retrieved from State of New Jersey website: http://www.state.nj.us/lps/dcj/agguide/photoid.pdf

58. National Research Council. (2014). Identifying the culprit: Assessing eyewitness identification. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

59. Federal Rules of Evidence: Rule 403. Excluding relevant evidence for prejudice, confusion, waste of time, or other reasons. Retrieved from Legal Information Institute website: https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/fre/rule_403

60. U.S. Department of Justice. (2001). The federal death penalty system: Supplementary data, analysis and revised protocol for capital case review. Retrieved from http://www.justice.gov/archive/dag/pubdoc/deathpenaltystudy.htm

61. Milkman, K. L., Akinola, M., & Chugh, D. (2012). Temporal distance and discrimination: An audit study in academia. Psychological Science, 23, 710–717.

62. Sah, S., & Loewenstein, G. (2012). More affected = more neglected: Amplification of bias in advice to the unidentified and many. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 3, 365–372.

63. Jensen, R. (2005). The heart of Whiteness: Confronting race, racism and White privilege. San Francisco, CA: City Lights Books.

64. Lowery, B. S., Knowles, E. D., & Unzueta, M. M. (2007). Framing inequity safely: Whites’ motivated perceptions of racial privilege. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33, 1237–1250.

65. McIntosh, P. (1998). White privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack. In P. S. Rothenberg (Ed.), Race, class, and gender in the United States: An integrated study (4th ed., pp. 165–169). New York, NY: Worth.

66. United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division. (2015). Investigation of the Ferguson Police Department. Retrieved from http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/opa/press-releases/attachments/2015/03/04/ferguson_police_department_report.pdf

67. Loewenstein, G., Sah, S., & Cain, D. M. (2012). The unintended consequences of conflict of interest disclosure. Journal of the American Medical Association, 307, 669–670. doi:10.1001/jama.2012.154

68. Sah, S., & Loewenstein, G. (2015). Conflicted advice and second opinions: Benefits, but unintended consequences. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 130, 89–107.

69. Sah, S., Loewenstein, G., & Cain, D. M. (2013). The burden of disclosure: Increased compliance with distrusted advice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 104, 289–304.

70. Bertrand, M., & Mullainathan, S. (2004). Are Emily and Greg more employable than Lakisha and Jamal? A field experiment on labor market discrimination. The American Economic Review, 94, 991–1013.

71. Kutateladze, B. L., & Andiloro, N. R. (2014). Prosecution and racial justice in New York County—Technical report (Technical Report 247227). Retrieved from National Criminal Justice Reference Service website: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/247227.pdf

72. Gershowitz, A. M., & Killinger, L. (2011). The state (never) rests: How excessive prosecutor caseloads harm criminal defendants. Northwestern University Law Review, 105, 262–301.

73. Perry, S., & Banks, D. (2011). Prosecutors in state courts—2007 statistical tables (NCJ 234211). Retrieved from Bureau of Justice Statistics website: http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/psc07st.pdf

74. U.S. Department of Justice. (2011). United States attorneys’ annual statistical report: Fiscal year 2010. Retrieved from http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/usao/legacy/2011/09/01/10statrpt.pdf

75. Rosenmerkel, S., Durose, M., & Farole, D., Jr. (2009). Felony sentences in state courts, 2006—Statistical tables (NCJ 226846). Retrieved from Bureau of Justice Statistics website: http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/fssc06st.pdf

76. Schmitt, J., Warner, K., & Gupta, S. (2010). The high budgetary cost of incarceration. Retrieved from Center for Economic and Policy Research website: http://www.cepr.net/publications/reports/the-high-budgetary-cost-of-incarceration

77. Western, B., & Pettit, B. (2010). Collateral costs: Incarceration’s effect on economic mobility. Retrieved from Pew Charitable Trusts website: http://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/legacy/uploadedfiles/pcs_assets/2010/collateralcosts1pdf.pdf

78. Tyler, T. R. (1990). Why people obey the law: Procedural justice, legitimacy, and compliance. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.