How the Implicit Bias, Representative Heuristic, and Anchoring Effect Embed Institutionalized Racism into the American Judicial System

Abstract

This paper analyzes research on the conviction process, indicating that judges use their intuition inappropriately through the decision-making process. Even if a judge wants equality and equity in their courtroom, they still are susceptible to biases. Therefore, judges are vulnerable to unconsciously implicating stereotypes and attitudes into decision-making through their inherent reliance on intuition, leading to systematic false judgments or implicit bias. Consequently, representative and anchoring heuristics are enabled, further facilitating discrimination in the judicial system. This paper concludes with several solutions that can help deter unconscious racial bias throughout the judicial system.