White male jury composition disproportionately harms Black defendants while leaving White defendants unaffected

Evidence

For the White defendant, the number of White men on the jury had no effect on the sentencing decisions. In cases with a Black defendant, however, juries with two or more White men were significantly more likely to impose a death sentence than were those with fewer than two White men. Experimentally increasing the racial/ethnic diversity of juries decreases the degree to which juries punish minority defendants (Bernard, 1979; Lipton, 1983; Perez, Hosch, Ponder, & Trejo, 1993). — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 894

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader jury-bias literature and the death-qualification research referenced in prior chapters on legal-psychological bias.