Out-group bias is strongest for minority jurors judging White defendants

Evidence

A comprehensive meta-analysis which coded for participant race in order to detect the presence of out-group bias reported a significant, but small, effect of out-group bias (Mitchell, Haw, Pfeifer, & Meissner, 2005). The effects of out-group bias were largest when participants were providing continuous guilt measures and for racial bias in sentencing decisions (as opposed to verdict decisions or likelihood of guilt ratings). This meta-analysis also found that out-group bias effects were largest when Black participants were evaluating White (vs. Black) defendants. The finding that out-group bias effects were largest for Black mock jurors is consistent with the most recent meta-analysis to examine the role of out-group bias in mock juror decisions (Devine & Caughlin, 2014). This meta-analysis only found evidence of out-group bias for Black jurors making judgments about White defendants (compared to Black defendants) and White jurors evaluating Hispanic defendants (compared to White defendants; Devine & Caughlin, 2014). — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 849

Categorization

• QUESTION: Why would minority jurors show larger out-group bias effects than White jurors — is this a measurement, motivation, or perceptual-symmetry artifact worth chasing?
• SHARE: This asymmetry finding would interest anyone specifically studying jury composition and verdicts.
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law: A Definitive Look at…, 849