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Trial: Implicit Biases

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Encyclopedia of Law and Economics

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Abstract

A large body of research in implicit social cognition indicates that implicit racial biases affect human decision-making. Building on these findings, legal scholars have explored how and under which circumstances implicit racial biases affect the functioning of trial systems. This entry reviews this literature. First, it provides an overview of the main results of, and methods employed in, studies on implicit racial biases. Second, it reviews the applications of these findings for the study of criminal and employment discrimination trials and the policies that could be implemented to reduce the effect of these biases on the decision-making of the relevant actors. It concludes with some suggestions for further research.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rotterdam Institute of Law and Economics, Erasmus School of Law, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Goran Dominioni

  2. China-EU School of Law, China University of Political Science and Law, Beijing, China

    Alessandro Romano

Authors
  1. Goran Dominioni
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  2. Alessandro Romano
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Goran Dominioni .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. MRE and University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France

    Alain Marciano

  2. Faculté d’Economie, Université de Montpellier and LAMETA-UMR CNRS, Montpellier, France

    Alain Marciano

  3. DiGSPES, University of Eastern Piedmont, Alessandria, Italy

    Giovanni Battista Ramello

  4. IEL, Torino, Italy

    Giovanni Battista Ramello

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Dominioni, G., Romano, A. (2019). Trial: Implicit Biases. In: Marciano, A., Ramello, G.B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Law and Economics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7753-2_668

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