Title: Presumption of Guilt
Headings: Presumption of Guilt
Presumption of Guilt
A presumption of guilt and dangerousness makes people of color vulnerable to racial violence, wrongful convictions, and unfair treatment.
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Content: Black defendants are 22 times more likely to receive the death penalty for crimes whose victims are white, rather than Black—a type of bias the Supreme Court has declared “inevitable.” 2
McCleskey v. Kemp, 481 U.S. 279, 312 (1987). Numerous studies have demonstrated that as a result of a history of racial inequality, people have strong unconscious associations between Blackness and criminality. 3
For example, Jennifer L. Eberhardt et al, “ Seeing Black: Race, Crime, and Visual Processing ,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (2004). Implicit biases have been shown to affect policing and all aspects of the criminal justice system, leading to: Disproportionately high rates of police stops, searches, and violence towards young men of color
Higher rates of childhood suspension, expulsion, and arrest at school
Disproportionate contact with the juvenile justice system
Harsher charging decisions and disadvantaged plea negotiations
A greater likelihood of being denied bail and diversion
An increased risk of wrongful convictions and unfair sentences
Higher rates of probation and parole revocation. The presumption that people of color are dangerous and guilty is so deeply entrenched that studies have found that support for harsh criminal justice policies correlated with how many African Americans they believed were in prison: the more Black people they believed were incarcerated, the more they supported aggressive policing tactics and excessively punitive sentencing laws. 4
Rebecca C. Hetey & Jennifer L. Eberhardt, “ Racial Disparities in Incarceration Increase Acceptance of Punitive Policies ,” Psychological Science (Aug. 5, 2014).