Bias and Perceptions in the Criminal Justice System: Three Empirical Approaches to Policing, Terrorism, and Plea Bargaining

Sommers, Zach

doi:https://doi.org/10.21985/n2-vdwt-2g93

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Bias and Perceptions in the Criminal Justice System: Three Empirical Approaches to Policing, Terrorism, and Plea Bargaining

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Bias pervades all stages of the American criminal justice system. The system is a human creation, run by fallible people who bring prejudices and biases to their work just like everyone else. The first step to ridding the system of those biases is to fully understand the way they manifest themselves and the perceptions that drive them. This dissertation endeavors to help develop a fuller understanding of bias and perceptions in three distinct areas of criminal law and criminology: police investigation outcomes, terrorism, and plea bargaining and charging decisions. Each chapter analyzes original data to bring a fresh perspective to the literature. Chapter 1 finds that certain legal characteristics of a homicide, such as the use of a gun, and extralegal characteristics, such as gender, are the strongest predictors of case clearance. Chapter 2 concludes that suspects with stereotypically Muslim or Arabic sounding names are more likely to labeled terrorists than suspects with more traditionally Christian American names. Lastly, Chapter 3 reveals that experimental subjects assigned the role of prosecutor—but not public defender—treat white defendants more harshly than black defendants when it comes to charging decisions and plea bargaining negotiations.

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