Shadows of Doubt: Stereotypes, Crime, and the Pursuit of Justice

Columbia University economics professors O’Flaherty (The Economics of Race in the United States) and Sethi offer a comprehensive argument that stereotyping infects virtually all interactions informing America’s criminal justice system. They examine the roots of stereotyping, identifying it as largely an expression of essentialism, the often false belief that categories have a deep, unobservable reality. Next they delve deeply into how stereotyping distorts the outcomes between perpetrators and victims, police and civilians (Hispanic and black drivers are twice as likely to be stopped by police than white drivers), and judges and defendants (judges are more likely to release white defendants without bail than black defendants). Mining relevant literature and statistical analyses, the authors also provide smart, sophisticated insights into the conditions that lead to high homicide rates and police use of lethal force (in both cases, a small chance of consequences for the act), and America’s globally unmatched incarceration rate (partly caused by three-strike laws and mandatory minimum sentences). In response to the documented faults that plague the system, O’Flaherty and Sethi propose well-considered, often novel approaches to minimize stereotyping’s negative effects, such as strict liability for gun owners for damage done by their guns. Readers interested in the workings of the criminal justice system will find this powerful argument illuminating and constructive. (Apr.)