Harris Shana, Weiss Rebecca A
Department of Psychology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, 524 West 59th Street, New York, NY 10019, USA.
Int J Law Psychiatry. 2018 Mar-Apr;57:85-90. doi: 10.1016/j.ijlp.2018.01.003. Epub 2018 Feb 5.
In the United States, competency to stand trial (CST) evaluations ensure that criminal defendants are capable of participating in their defenses, thus ensuring an important legal right. However, some research has suggested that the CST process may be impacted by legally irrelevant factors such as a defendant's race and cultural background. However, the majority of researchers examined factors that are predictive of CST recommendations and decisions. Few studies have focused on potential racial discrepancies in attorney referrals for CST evaluations and whether they are exacerbated by professional experience. The current study examined potential racial disparities in referrals for CST evaluations among 322 law students and 102 attorneys. Participants were randomly assigned to read vignettes describing either African American or Caucasian defendants who varied in their fitness to stand trial. The participants were asked to indicate whether they would refer the client for a CST evaluation and to describe their reasoning. The results indicated that both law students and attorneys were generally more likely to refer unfit rather than fit defendants, indicating an understanding of the legal criteria. Law students displayed a racial bias, only when referring the defendants who were unfit due to the lack of a rational understanding of the relevant legal case, χ(1) = 4.90, p = 0.03, Φ = 0.13. Fitness condition was the only significant predictor of attorney referrals. The generally encouraging results indicated that professional experience did not increase racial biases.
在美国，受审能力（CST）评估可确保刑事被告有能力参与其辩护，从而保障一项重要的法律权利。然而，一些研究表明，CST程序可能会受到诸如被告种族和文化背景等法律上无关因素的影响。然而，大多数研究人员考察的是预测CST建议和决定的因素。很少有研究关注CST评估中律师转介方面潜在的种族差异，以及这些差异是否会因专业经验而加剧。本研究考察了322名法律专业学生和102名律师在CST评估转介方面潜在的种族差异。参与者被随机分配阅读描述非洲裔美国或白人被告的短文，这些被告在受审能力方面各不相同。要求参与者指出他们是否会将该客户转介进行CST评估，并描述他们的理由。结果表明，法律专业学生和律师通常都更有可能转介不具备受审能力而非具备受审能力的被告，这表明他们理解法律标准。只有在转介因对相关法律案件缺乏理性理解而不具备受审能力的被告时，法律专业学生才表现出种族偏见，χ(1) = 4.90，p = 0.03，Φ = 0.13。受审能力状况是律师转介的唯一显著预测因素。总体而言令人鼓舞的结果表明，专业经验不会增加种族偏见。
