The Presence of Implicit Racial Bias in Sentencing Between Ethnically-Diverse Defendants
Vincent Nazzaro
Co-Presenters: Individual Presentation
College: College of Liberal Arts
Major: Psychology
Faculty Research Mentor: Jane O'Brien
Abstract:
The objective of the study was to investigate the relationship between implicit racial bias, guilt, and sentencing outcome for Black, White, and Hispanic defendants. The role of race/ethnicity in the criminal justice system has been controversial, producing variegated findings within the current literature. Implicit racial bias has been identified as a psychological mechanism through which discrepancies and disparities may occur. Participants (n = 215) were tasked with viewing an AI-generated image of a defendant, then reading a vignette which depicted a crime the defendant was on trial for. Participants were then tasked with answering questions as to whether they found the defendant guilty or not, a sentence and a sentence length. Participants then answered a series of demographic questions that identified their age, highest level of education received, self-identified race/ethnicity, and political stance. It was hypothesized that a Black and Hispanic defendant would be found guilty more often while receiving both harsher and lengthier sentences than a White defendant for the same crime. It was also hypothesized that implicit racial bias would have a mitigating effect on those results. Results refuted the researcher’s hypotheses. The relationships between race and guilt, race and sentence, as well as race and sentence length were not statistically significant. The results of this study reflect the heterogeneity of the current scientific literature. More research is needed that reflects a live courtroom environment, includes Hispanic/Latinx individuals, and assesses implicit racial bias both thoroughly and appropriately.