Bias affects even well-intentioned egalitarian defense attorneys who represent the accused

Evidence

For many years, we have worked together on behalf of the accused, Andrea as a criminal defense attorney and Mortimer as an investigator. We trained together, served on death penalty teams together, and taught together. What we know is that bias crosses legal divides, affecting the decision-making of even those who are seemingly well-intentioned and egalitarian, such as criminal defense attorneys. When we last visited this subject (see Lyon & Smith, 2014), it was not as clear as it is today that overt racism is a significant force (see, for example, Jacobs, 2018), and we will address those concerns a bit later in the chapter. Our main emphasis here is on how unconscious racism and biases often play a role in our everyday criminal defense decisions (Richardson, 2011). — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 665

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to the reader’s central question about whether professed conviction (egalitarian self-image, taking the defendant’s side) predicts actual measured bias or diverges from it — the authors flag the divergence as their thesis. — connects to: Adversarial lawyers serve clients while inquisitorial lawyers serve justice — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 636
• QUESTION: Worth tracking how the chapter measures ‘unconscious racism’ in defense attorneys — is it implicit association tests, outcome data on plea recommendations, or case-strategy audits?
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law: A Definitive Look at…, 665