Situationist Contributor Jerry Kang and his numerous co-authors, Mark Bennett, Devon Carbado, Pamela Casey, Nilanjana Dasgupta, David Faigman, Rachel Godsil, Anthony Greenwald, Justin Levinson, and Jennifer Mnookin, have just posted their important paper, “Implicit Bias in the Courtroom” (forthcoming UCLA Law Review, Vol. 59, No. 5, 2012) on SSRN. Here’s the abstract:
Given the substantial and growing scientific literature on implicit bias, the time has now come to confront a critical question: What, if anything, should we do about implicit bias in the courtroom? The author team comprises legal academics, scientists, researchers, and even a sitting federal judge who seek to answer this question in accordance with “behavioral realism.” The Article first provides a succinct scientific introduction to implicit bias, with some important theoretical clarifications that distinguish between explicit, implicit, and structural forms of bias. Next, the article applies the science to two trajectories of bias relevant to the courtroom. One story follows a criminal defendant path; the other story follows a civil employment discrimination path. This application involves not only a focused scientific review but also a step-by-step examination of how criminal and civil trials proceed. Finally, the Article examines various concrete intervention strategies to counter implicit biases for key players in the justice system, such as the judge and jury.
Related Situationist posts:
- Implicit Bias Symposium (with links to videos)
- The Situation of ‘Common Sense’
- Pushback from the Left
- Why Race May Influence Us Even When We “Know” It Doesn’t
- Perceptions of Racial Divide
- Black History is Now
- Jennifer Eberhardt’s “Policing Racial Bias” – Video
- The Situation of Litigators
- Tierney’s Skepticism at the New York Times
- Measuring Implicit Attitudes
- What Are the Legal Implications of Implicit Biases?
- Confronting the Backlash against Implicit Bias
- Legal Academic Backlash – Abstract
- Naïve Cynicism in Election 2008: Dispositionism v. Situationism?
- Implicit Bias and Strawmen
- The Situation of Situation in Employment Discrimination Law – Abstract.”
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