The Impact of Prejudice Screening Procedures on Racial Bias in the Courtroom

• Published in: Law and human behavior 2009-08, Vol.33 (4), p.320-328
• Main Authors: Schuller, Regina A, Kazoleas, Veronica, Kawakami, Kerry
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adjudication; Adolescent; Attitudes; Attorneys; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Bias; Black People; Black White Relations; Canada; Challenges for cause; Community and Environmental Psychology; Courts; Criminal defenses; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Defendants; Embezzlement; Evidence; Female; Guilty verdicts; Human; Humans; Interviews as Topic; Judgment; Juries; Jurors; Law and Psychology; Male; Mass Screening - legislation & jurisprudence; Mass Screening - standards; Original Article; Personality and Social Psychology; Prejudice; Prejudices; Psychology; Race; Race and Ethnic Discrimination; Racial Bias; Racial discrimination; Racial profiling; Racial Relations; Racism; Self evaluation; Social psychology; Studies; Trials; Voir dire; White People; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0147-7307; 1573-661X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10979-008-9153-9

The current study examines the impact of the challenge for cause procedure and its effectiveness in curbing racial prejudice in trials involving Black defendants. Participants were provided with a trial summary of a defendant charged with either drug trafficking or embezzlement. The race of the defendant was either White or Black, with participants in the Black defendant condition receiving (prior to the trial presentation) either no challenge, a close-ended standard challenge, or a modified reflective pretrial questioning strategy. Overall, the results revealed an anti-Black bias in judgments. While the closed ended challenge did little to reduce this bias, the reflective format demonstrated a reduction in racial bias. Theoretical and applied implications of these findings are discussed.