Judges are increasingly using “implicit bias” instructions in jury trials in an effort to reduce the influence of jurors' biases on judgment. In this article, we report on findings from a large-scale mock jury study that tests the impact of implicit bias instructions on judgment in a case where defendant race was varied (Black or White). Using an experimental design, we collected and analyzed quantitative and qualitative data at the individual and group levels obtained from 120 small groups who viewed a simulated federal drug conspiracy trial and then deliberated to determine a verdict. We find that while participants were sensitized to the importance of being unbiased, implicit bias instructions had no measurable impact on verdict outcomes relative to the standard instructions. Our analysis of the deliberations, however, reveals that those who heard the implicit bias instructions were more likely to discuss the issue of bias, potentially with both ameliorative and harmful effects on the defendant. Most significantly, we identified multiple instances where, in an effort to avoid bias, participants who heard the implicit bias instructions interfered with their own or other participants' appropriate assessments of witness credibility.

中文翻译：

---

隐式偏置指令的微妙影响

法官越来越多地在陪审团审判中使用“隐性偏见”指令，以努力减少陪审员的偏见对判断的影响。在本文中，我们报告了一项大规模模拟陪审团研究的结果，该研究测试了在被告种族不同（黑人或白人）的案件中隐性偏见指令对判断的影响。使用实验设计，我们收集并分析了从 120 个小组获得的个人和小组层面的定量和定性数据，这些小组观看了模拟的联邦药物阴谋试验，然后经过深思熟虑确定判决。我们发现，虽然参与者对不偏不倚的重要性很敏感，但相对于标准指令，隐性偏见指令对判决结果没有可衡量的影响。然而，我们对审议的分析，揭示了那些听到隐含偏见指令的人更有可能讨论偏见问题，这可能对被告产生改善和有害的影响。最重要的是，我们发现了多个实例，在这些实例中，为了避免偏见，听到隐含偏见指令的参与者干扰了他们自己或其他参与者对证人可信度的适当评估。