“贾马尔”比“詹姆斯”受到的判决更严厉吗？黑人男性刑事量刑中的名字首字母偏见。

Kenthirarajah Dushiyanthini Toni, Camp Nicholas P, Walton Gregory M, Kay Aaron C, Cohen Geoffrey L

Department of Psychology, Stanford University.

Department of Organizational Studies, University of Michigan.

Law Hum Behav. 2023 Feb;47(1):169-181. doi: 10.1037/lhb0000498.

OBJECTIVE

Using archival and experimental methods, we tested the role that racial associations of first names play in criminal sentencing.

HYPOTHESES

We hypothesized that Black defendants with more stereotypically Black names (e.g., Jamal) would receive more punitive sentences than Black defendants with more stereotypically White names (e.g., James).

METHOD

In an archival study, we obtained a random sample of 296 real-world records of Black male prison inmates in Florida and asked participants to rate the extent to which each inmate's first name was stereotypically Black or stereotypically White. We then tested the extent to which racial stereotypicality was associated with sentence length, controlling for relevant legal features of each case (e.g., criminal record, severity of convicted offenses). In a follow-up experiment, participant judges assigned sentences in cases in which the Black male defendant was randomly assigned a more stereotypically Black or White name from our archival study.

RESULTS

Controlling for a wide array of factors-including criminal record-we found that inmates with more stereotypically Black versus White first names received longer sentences β = 0.09, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) [0.01, 0.16]: 409 days longer for names 1 standard deviation above versus below the mean on racial stereotypicality. In our experiment, participant judges recommended significantly longer sentences to Black inmates with more stereotypically Black names above and beyond the severity of the charges or their criminal history, β = 0.07, 95% CI [0.02, 0.13].

CONCLUSIONS

Our results identify how racial associations with first names can bias consequential sentencing decisions despite the impartial aims of the legal system. More broadly, our findings illustrate how racial biases manifest in distinctions made among members of historically marginalized groups, not just between members of different groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

目的

运用档案研究法和实验法，我们检验了名字的种族关联在刑事量刑中所起的作用。

假设

我们假设名字带有更多典型黑人特征（如贾马尔）的黑人被告比名字带有更多典型白人特征（如詹姆斯）的黑人被告会受到更严厉的判决。

方法

在一项档案研究中，我们从佛罗里达州随机抽取了296份黑人男性监狱囚犯的真实记录样本，并要求参与者对每个囚犯名字的典型黑人或典型白人特征程度进行评分。然后，我们检验了种族刻板印象与刑期长短之间的关联程度，并控制了每个案件的相关法律特征（如犯罪记录、定罪罪行的严重程度）。在后续实验中，参与审判的法官对黑人男性被告的案件进行量刑，这些被告被随机赋予我们档案研究中带有更多典型黑人或白人特征的名字。

结果

在控制了一系列因素（包括犯罪记录）后，我们发现名字带有更多典型黑人特征而非白人特征的囚犯被判处更长的刑期（β = 0.09，95%置信区间[0.01，0.16]：在种族刻板印象上高于或低于平均值1个标准差的名字，刑期相差409天）。在我们的实验中，参与审判的法官对名字带有更多典型黑人特征的黑人囚犯，除了考虑指控的严重程度或他们的犯罪历史外，还建议判处显著更长的刑期（β = 0.07，95%置信区间[0.02，0.13]）。