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Retracted: Racist biases in legal decisions are reduced by a justice focus
Author(s) -
Lammers Joris,
Stapel Diederik A.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.783
Subject(s) - economic justice , focus (optics) , procedural justice , psychology , social psychology , regulatory focus theory , administration of justice , criminology , law , political science , physics , optics , neuroscience , creativity , perception
Six studies investigate whether the effect of racist biases on judges' legal decisions on minority defendants is reduced by a “justice focus.” Given that people associate legal decision‐making with the need to do so in a colorblind manner, a justice focus blocks the effect of racist biases on legal decisions. Experiment 1 shows that explicit instructions to adopt a justice goal decrease biases. Experiment 2 shows that a primed justice focus also decreases biases. Experiments 3a and 3b show the role of pre‐existing legal expertise, which makes people more susceptible a justice goal. Experiments 4a and 4b apply these findings by studying the role of a justice focus among professional courtroom judges. Together, these results demonstrate the importance of a justice focus in preventing racist biases in legal decision‐making. Importantly, a justice focus is a necessary but no sufficient condition for the colorblind administration of justice. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.