THE SHELLOW COLLECTION
Jury Instructions By James M. Shellow of Wisconsin
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Evidence: Character Evidence
1. Character Evidence: Stereotypes
THE SHELLOW COLLECTION
Jury Instructions By James M. Shellow of Wisconsin
1. Character Evidence: : Stereotypes
ALERT: Carefully review the Caveats and Disclaimers before using these materials.
SAMPLE INSTRUCTION:
It is natural for human beings to make assumptions about the parties and witnesses in any case based on stereotypes. Stereotypes" constitute well-learned sets of associations or expectations connecting particular behaviors or traits with members of a particular social group. Often, we may rely on stereotypes without even being aware that we are doing so. As a juror, you must not make assumptions about the parties ad witnesses based on their membership in a particular racial group. You must not assume that a particular interpretation of a person's behavior is more or less likely because the individual belongs to any particular group. Reliance on stereotypes in deciding real cases is prohibited both because every accused is entitled to equal protection of law, and because racial stereotypes are historically, and notoriously, inaccurate when applied to any particular member of a race.
To ensure that you have not made any unfair assessments based on racial stereotypes, you should apply a race-switching exercise to test whether stereotypes have affected your evaluation of the case. "Race-switching" involves imagining the same events, the same circumstances, the same people, but switching the races of the parties and witnesses. For example, if the accused is African-American and the accuser is White, you should imagine a White accused and an African-American accuser.
If your evaluation of the case is different after engaging in race-switching, this suggests a subconscious reliance on stereotypes. You must then reevaluate the case from a neutral, unbiased perspective.
CASES WHERE THE ABOVE INSTRUCTION WAS GIVEN:
State of Alaska v. Denarius Lockhart, Case No. 3AN-S96-2362 Cr (Alaska 1997).
NOTES:
1. Social science research establishes that reliance on stereotypes is a common means by which people comprehend and interpret the world, particularly ambiguous interactions between people. Hofstadter, Metamagical Themas: Questioning the Essence of Mind and Pattern, 137 (1985); Krieger, The Content of Our Categories: A Cognitive Bias Approach to Discrimination and Equal Employment Opportunity, 47 Stan. L. Rev. 1161, 1187-89 (1995); Hamilton, A Cognitive-Attributional Analysis of Stereotyping, 12 ADVANCES IN EXPERIMENTAL SOC. PSYCHOL. 52 (L/ Berkowitz ed., 1979).
2. Reliance on racial stereotypes often operates at a subconscious level. C.R. Lawrence III, The Id, Ego, and Equal Protection: Reckoning with Unconscious Racism, 39 Stan. L. Rev. 317, 322 (1987).
3. The Black-as-violent-criminal stereotype is ingrained in, and pervades, American society. B.L. Duncan, Differential Social Perceptions and Attribution of Intergroup Violence: Testing the Lower Limit of Stereotyping of Blacks, 4 J. PERSONALITY & SOC. PSYCHOL. 590 (1976) (75% of 104 white undergrads described Black person shoving White person as "violent," 6% as "playing around;" only 17% described White person shoving Black person as violent; 42% described White person as playing around); Sage & Schofield, Racial and Behavioral Cues in Black and White Children's Perceptions of Ambiguously Aggressive Acts, 39 J. PERSONALITY & SOC. PSYCHOL. 590 (1980) (both Black and White children tend to rate relatively innocuous behavior by Blacks as more threatening than similar behavior by Whites); C. Lee, Race and Self-Defense: Toward a Normative Conception of Reasonableness, 81 Minn. L. Rev. 367, 406-10, 464 n.389 (1996) (impact of racial stereotypes in specific self-defense cases and studies of effect of stereotypes on jury function in sexual violence cases). The American media and entertainment industries perpetuate, and widely disseminate, the Black-as-violent-criminal stereotype. C. Lee, supra., 81 Minn. L. Rev. 403 n.107.
4. White people's fear of being victimized by violent African-American criminals is a case in point. In 1994, African-Americans arrested for violent crimes constituted less than 1%.
5. This instruction is derived from a model instruction proposed by Associate Professor C. Lee, in her article Race and Self-Defense: Toward a Normative Conception of Reasonableness, 81 Minn. L. Rev. 367, 482 (1996).
RELATED SHELLOW MATERIALS:
See THE SHELLOW COLLECTION: Defendant Character Evidence.
See THE SHELLOW COLLECTION: Witness Credibility: Character For Truthfulness.
RELATED NCJIC MATERIALS:
See NCJIC 10.1.3 [Duty Of Court To Question Prospective Jurors Regarding Racial Bias].
See NCJIC 10.2.10 [Voir Dire: Prospective Jurors Must Be Truthful Regarding Racial Bias].
See NCJIC 16.2.2 [Duty Of Jurors To Be Unbiased].
See NCJIC 25.11.2 [Testimony Relating To Race, Religion Or National Origin Of Defendant Is Improper].
See generally NCJIC 25.13 [Character Evidence].
See generally NCJIC 251.4 [Good Character Of Defendant].
See generally NCJIC 253.4.8 [Character Of "Victim"].