The effects of implicit bias interventions on mock jurors' civil trial decisions and perceptions of the courts.

Abstract

Objective: In an attempt to reduce juror bias, courts across the United States are educating jurors about how implicit bias impacts decision making. We tested whether novel implicit bias interventions-in the form of educational videos or judicial instructions-reduce the relationship between mock jurors' explicit racial biases and their case decisions for Black plaintiffs and/or increase mock jurors' trust in the courts to deliver fair outcomes.

Hypotheses: We predicted that mock jurors' increased explicit racial biases would predict less favorable case outcomes for Black plaintiffs but not for White plaintiffs (Studies 1 and 2). We presented competing hypotheses about whether an implicit bias intervention would mitigate, exacerbate, or have no effect on this relationship and explored whether they improved mock jurors' trust in the courts' ability to produce fair outcomes (Study 2).

Method: In Study 1 (N = 407) and Study 2 (N = 1,016), White mock jurors were randomly assigned to judge a civil case with a Black or White plaintiff and then completed measures capturing their implicit and explicit racial biases. In Study 2, mock jurors were also randomly assigned to watch an implicit bias educational video, watch a video of a judge delivering implicit bias instructions, or neither (i.e., control condition).

Results: As hypothesized, mock jurors' increased explicit racial biases predicted less favorable verdicts for Black plaintiffs but not for White plaintiffs. Implicit bias judicial instructions increased pro-plaintiff verdicts and mock jurors' trust in the courts in cases with Black plaintiffs. However, we did not find evidence that educational videos impacted these outcomes, which warrants further study. Neither intervention reduced the relationship between explicit racial bias and verdicts for Black plaintiffs.

Conclusions: Anti-bias judicial instructions might hold some promise but need further testing; implicit bias videos had no impact. In the meantime, court systems must explore additional remedies to achieve an impartial jury. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).