The Influence of Afrocentric Facial Features in Criminal Sentencing

Abstract

Prior research has shown that within a racial category, people with more Afrocentric facial features are presumed more likely to have traits that are stereotypic of Black Americans compared with people with less Afrocentric features. The present study investigated whether this form of feature-based stereotyping might be observed in criminal-sentencing decisions. Analysis of a random sample of inmate records showed that Black and White inmates, given equivalent criminal histories, received roughly equivalent sentences. However, within each race, inmates with more Afrocentric features received harsher sentences than those with less Afrocentric features. These results are consistent with laboratory findings, and they suggest that although racial stereotyping as a function of racial category has been successfully removed from sentencing decisions, racial stereotyping based on the facial features of the offender is a form of bias that is largely overlooked.

The functional basis of face evaluation

“…The response scale ranged from 1 (Not at all [trait term]) to 9 (Extremely [trait term]). In all behavioral studies (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14), each face was visible until the participant responded, the interstimulus interval (ISI) was 1,000 ms, and the order of faces was randomized for each participant.…”

“…For example, ''thieves are notable for their expressive faces and manual dexterity, small wandering eyes that are often oblique in form, thick and close eyebrows, distorted or squashed noses, thin beards and hair, and sloping foreheads'' (2). Lombroso provided his ''scientific'' testimony at several criminal trials.Although modern science, if not folk psychology (3), has largely discarded such notions, trait evaluations from faces predict important social outcomes ranging from electoral success (4-6) to sentencing decisions (7,8). Studies show that people rapidly evaluate faces on multiple trait dimensions such as trustworthiness and aggressiveness (9, 10).…”

“…Although modern science, if not folk psychology (3), has largely discarded such notions, trait evaluations from faces predict important social outcomes ranging from electoral success (4-6) to sentencing decisions (7,8). Studies show that people rapidly evaluate faces on multiple trait dimensions such as trustworthiness and aggressiveness (9, 10).…”

Changing the personality of a face: Perceived Big Two and Big Five personality factors modeled in real photographs.

“…Although competence does not seem relevant in evaluating whether a person might be willing and able to do harm, people use competence-cues from the faces of two opponents to judge who will win an election (Willis & Todorov, 2006). Similarly, a study investigating real sentencing decisions as a function of the degree of Afrocentric facial qualities found that more pronounced Afrocentric facial cues result in harsher sentencing (Blair, Judd, & Chapleau, 2004). These findings suggest that raters make very context-specific judgments based CHANGING THE PERSONALITY OF A FACE 7 on faces and they agree in doing so, even if these judgments do not fit the 2D space of face evaluation.…”

Fooled by first impressions? Reexamining the diagnostic value of appearance-based inferences

“…These inferences occur spontaneously and rapidly (Ballew & Todorov, 2007;Bar, Neta, & Linz, 2006;Rule & Ambady, 2008a; Todorov, Pakrashi, & Oosterhof, in press; Willis & Todorov, 2006). Furthermore, recent evidence suggests that these impressions impact the decisions that people make in a variety of important domains, including mate choice , politics (for reviews of this literature see: Hall, Goren, Chaiken, & Todorov, 2009; Olivola & Todorov, in press), business/finance (Gorn, Jiang, & Johar, 2008;Naylor, 2007;Pope & Sydnor, 2008;Ravina, 2008;Rule & Ambady, 2008b), law/forensic-science (Blair, Judd, & Chapleau, 2004;Eberhardt, Davies, Purdie-Vaughns, & Johnson, 2006; Zarkadi, Wade, & Stewart, in press;Zebrowitz & McDonald, 1991), and the military (Mueller & Mazur, 1996).A crucial question, then, is whether appearance-based inferences are valid forms of social judgment. That is, can we use appearances to determine a target-person's characteristics, or are we being fooled by first impressions?…”