Perceptions of Black and White individuals sentenced for violent and nonviolent crimes

Abstract

The US judicial system is rife with racial discrimination against Black individuals at every stage. The current study aimed to examine perceptions of individuals accused of crimes and perceptions of sentencing decisions. Furthermore, we aimed to examine whether implicit and explicit racial bias would affect these perceptions. White university students (n = 157) and noncollege adults (n = 224) viewed fictitious electronic case records for Black and White target individuals convicted of a nonviolent drug crime or a violent assault crime. They rated the targets on positive and negative traits and completed measures of explicit and implicit racial bias. Findings indicated that university student participants rated the White targets more negatively and less positively than the Black targets across both crimes. The nonuniversity sample rated the Black targets more negatively than the White targets for the violent crime. On ratings of deservingness of incarceration and fairness of the sanction, participants had similar perceptions for Black and White targets. Furthermore, participants in our studies who reported greater explicit bias also evaluated the Black target less positively, more negatively, as more violent, and as more deserving of incarceration. More negative implicit bias was significantly associated with less positive evaluations of the Black target and greater endorsement that the target deserved incarceration. These findings have implications for criminal justice and judicial reform.