Potential causes of racial disparities in wrongful convictions based on mistaken identifications: Own-race bias and differences in evidence-based suspicion.

Abstract

Objective: We explored whether racial disparities in evidence-based suspicion (i.e., evidence of guilt prior to placement in a lineup) provide a better explanation of racial disparities in exonerations based on eyewitness misidentification than the own-race bias in eyewitness identifications. Hypotheses: We predicted that the own-race bias in identification accuracy would be insufficiently large to fully explain the racial disparities in wrongful convictions in cases with mistaken identification. We also predicted that possible racial disparities in the prior probability of suspect guilt before subjecting suspects to the risk of misidentification might better explain racial disparities in wrongful convictions. Method: We conducted a meta-analysis on 54 effect sizes extracted from 16 studies (1,503 individual participants) that tested whether there was an own-race bias in eyewitness identifications using a design that varied the race of both the witnesses and the target faces (Black vs. White). We also constructed two curves that plotted the prior probability of suspect guilt against the posterior probability of guilt: one if an identification were to be obtained for a Black suspect and one if an identification were to be obtained for a White suspect. Results: Participants, irrespective of their race, were better able to discriminate among previously seen White than Black targets. However, the differential accuracy rates for identifications of White versus Black suspects were too small to explain racial disparities in exoneration data on their own. However, racial disparities in evidence that police have against suspects before placing them in an identification procedure would likely explain more of the variance in racial disparities in mistaken identifications that lead to wrongful convictions. Conclusion: Memory errors caused by the own-race bias are likely not the sole or even primary cause of racial disparities in misidentifications; rather, systemic bias in the amount of evidence that police have before placing a suspect at risk of misidentification likely explains more of the variance of racial disparities in wrongful convictions based on mistaken identifications. Requirements for evidence-based suspicion before placing suspects in an identification procedure are needed to prevent systemic racism in mistaken identifications. Public Significance StatementThere are large racial disparities in the number of wrongful convictions based on eyewitness misidentifications of Black versus White defendants. In addition to the contribution of own-race biases in eyewitness identification, differences in policing Black and White suspects likely also contribute to these disparities. If officers are more likely to place Black than White suspects in lineups when there is little evidence connecting them to the crime, then Black suspects are at greater risk of misidentification than White suspects. To minimize racial disparities in eyewitness misidentification and to protect all innocent suspects, police procedures must requir...

Racial justice in psycholegal research and forensic psychology practice: Current advances and a framework for future progress.

“…For example, lowincome BIPOC women may be reluctant to turn to the police for help with domestic violence because many police agencies fine landlords for so-called nuisance calls from their properties, putting victims at risk for eviction if they call the police (Desmond, 2016). In the special issue, Katzman and Kovera (2023) investigate previously unexamined sources of misidentification for Black suspects, and Jackson et al (2023) propose an expanded model for procedural justice theory that incorporates beliefs about structural racism.…”

“…These findings corroborate the views of BIPOC youth, who often report that the police view them negatively (e.g., Rios, 2011) and suggest that, particularly in communities of color, many police officers have views that could facilitate negative and even harmful interactions with youth. Katzman and Kovera (2023) examine a different form of bias, how suspect race affects police willingness to use identification procedures involving eyewitnesses. The authors challenge the common assumption that the eyewitness errors reflecting own-race bias are the primary source of misidentifications of Black suspects.…”

“…Structural interventions generally are more effective than personal interventions at creating sustainable change because they change ongoing contexts and/or factors that promote problematic behavior. Thus, examining policies and practices that may contribute to bias and inequality is valuable in racial justice work, as Katzman and Kovera (2023) illustrate by showing how different standards for using identification procedures relate to likely misidentifications of Black suspects.…”

The role of suspect development practices in eyewitness identification accuracy and racial disparities in wrongful conviction

“…Similarly, witnesses exhibit poorer encoding of faces belonging to people of other races than of their own. With poor encoding of other race faces, witnesses are more likely to make correct identifications of those in their racial ingroups than outgroups and are more likely to mistakenly identify those in their racial outgroups than their ingroups (Katzman & Kovera, 2023; Lee & Penrod, 2022; Meissner & Brigham, 2001). This pattern of effects is known as the own‐race bias in eyewitness identification, and until very recently it is the only variable that researchers have studied in the eyewitness space that has focused on racial differences in identification outcomes.…”

“…For the remainder of this article, I will briefly review research on the three categories of variables that have been identified previously by eyewitness scholars: estimator, system, and reflector variables, all of which implicate memory processes in some form. It has become clear, however, that the base rate of guilty suspects in identification procedures also plays a role in mistaken eyewitness identifications (Wells et al., 2015) and may provide a compelling explanation for why we see racial disparities in wrongful convictions (Katzman & Kovera, 2023). I will make the case that more research is needed on the investigatory processes that the police use to develop suspects of a crime and the relationship between these processes and the ratio of correct to incorrect identifications, including the use of facial recognition technology and police use of coercive techniques to elicit identifications from reluctant witnesses.…”