Overcorrecting for bias can produce its own discriminatory failure to serve clients.

Evidence

It would be as much of a mistake to infer that ethnic or racial appeals always prevail in affecting discretionary judgments as that they never prevail. Bureaucratic norms operate to restrict the range of determinations made in this way. Thus, black police officers may make particular efforts to act in role-prescribed ways when confronting black citizens. … Displaying the complementary tendency, white bureaucrats may be more lenient or tolerant with black clients out of fear of being accused of racial biases. The report from San Francisco that black school children tended to receive good grades and were told that they were doing well in school, but in fact were not learning at an acceptable rate, is a vicious example of what can happen when street-level bureaucrats over-react to the potential for biased behavior. — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 795

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The overcorrection paradox reframes bias as a systemic feedback effect rather than individual prejudice — sits with you.
• QUESTION: Does the overcorrection pattern accelerate or decelerate stereotype institutionalization relative to plain bias? Worth chasing.
• XREF: connects to: Anti-bias interventions can backfire by threatening the group they regulate. — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law: A Definitive Look at…, 280; Algorithms that correct documented bias may themselves violate equal protection law — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law: A Definitive Look at…, 1207

Broader Connections

• Anti-bias interventions can backfire by threatening the group they regulate. #expands (0.85) — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 280
• Algorithms that correct documented bias may themselves violate equal protection law #exemplifies (0.80) — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 1207