Meta-analytic findings on juror racial bias are mixed and depend on participant coding

Evidence

The first metaanalysis to aggregate studies examining the impact of racial bias primarily examined White jurors’ judgments of Black (vs. White) defendants. Sweeney and Haney (1992) found a small but significant bias against Black defendants. A follow-up meta-analysis did not find evidence that minorities suffered more adverse outcomes compared with White defendants in mock juror simulations (Mazzella & Feingold, 1994). The researchers in the second meta-analysis, however, did not code for the race of the participants, so it is possible that the lack of bias was due to the inclusion of minority mock jurors, who may be less likely to express bias against their own group. — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 848

Categorization

• QUESTION: The coding failure in Mazzella & Feingold seems like a striking methodological gap worth probing further.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s sincere-conviction-vs-measured-bias work — participant-race coding shapes whether bias shows up, paralleling how explicit attitude measures can mask bias.
• 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…, 848