Notes

We suggest a new solution.

A solution to discrimination in the criminal justice system against minorities

Blinding cases – removing the race of the suspect from the information provided to the prosecutor – would meaningfully reduce prosecutorial bias. This can be done by asking police to exclude race information from reports, or by using case-management software or office assistants to redact this information.

This would involve a little additional administrative effort and minimal cost. The barriers to implementing may include the challenge of achieving full cooperation of prosecutors' offices to blind every case, which will be difficult to achieve without political pressure.

Prosecutors typically make charging decisions based on police files, rather than direct contact with the suspect. Although a suspect's race and mugshots are now included in their file, those are intended for police identification purposes. That information is almost never relevant to the merits of the prosecution.

Even with plea bargaining, in many jurisdictions, prosecutors usually work with defense attorneys, rather than being exposed to the defendant. In most cases, the only way prosecutors learn the person's race is through police reports, and these can be blinded.

David Brown, who has been blind since he was 13, competes in the men's 200 meters.
Paralympic athlete David Brown. Leo Correa/AP
Blinding to prevent unconscious bias – racial or otherwise – is standard procedure in several fields. Medical research requires that most drug trials use double-blinding of patients and physicians, whenever possible. In a study on symphony orchestras, blinding of musician auditions increased the probability that a woman would advance by 50%. One media company recently announced it would use blind auditions to hire tech journalists.
Blinding prosecutors to the race of criminal defendants can have equally positive effects. In 2001, the Justice Department formed a system for attorneys to conduct blind reviews in death penalty cases. It is a positive step in the right direction, and we believe more work should be done to document the impact of this practice.

Prosecutor bias has a significant impact, and even a small reduction in bias will be meaningful. Research shows that racial bias may result in blacks serving 20% more prison time than whites for the same crime. Two-thirds of those convicted of a felony serve prison time, and the average sentence is about five years at an average cost of $25,000 annually.

Of course, the primary benefit will be to the accused, their families and to the rest of society who can trust that all efforts are being taken to remove bias from a justice system. We aspire to a race-blind justice system – why not actually make decisions blind?