Testing the Efficacy of Interventions to Decrease Racial Bias in Jury Selection

Despite legal restrictions, attorneys continue to use peremptory challenges to strike minorities from juries (Clark, Boccaccini, Caillouet, & Chaplin, 2007; Equal Justice Initiative, 2010; Gabbidon, Kowal, Jordan, Roberts, & Vincenzi, 2008). The current protection against racially motivated peremptory challenges provided by Batson v. Kentucky (1986) has not been effective in reducing racial discrimination during voir dire and social scientists have yet to identify a suitable procedure for reducing the bias. The present research examined if methods used in reducing discrimination in industrial and organizational psychology can have a similar impact in a legal setting. Participants viewed venirepersons who varied in race, attitude and gender. Participants rated how likely it would be for them to use a peremptory challenge on each venireperson and then chose two to exclude at the end. Venireperson attitude was the only significant predictor of likelihood ratings and exclusion. Several possibilities are explored to explain why the research did not replicate previous studies or archival data