Judicial “Remorse Bias” and the Effects of Social Cognition in Perpetuating Sentencing Inequalities for Marginalized Defendants

• In Event: Psychology, Social Contexts, and Decision-making in Courts

Abstract

Assessing verbal and non-verbal displays of remorse, as indicators of prosociality and rehabilitation potential, is a subjective process that offers rich opportunities for implicit cognitive processes termed “remorse bias.” When assessing another person’s remorse, the assessor may unconsciously filter remorse assessments and corresponding character attributions through a lens of biased, stereotyped suppositions about how that person should act when showing true remorse and, sometimes, whether that person is even capable of feeling genuine remorse. Building from this framework, this study utilizes semi-structured interviews and grounded theory with a sample of U.S. state court judges and presents preliminary data to model how “remorse bias” (stemming from social cognitive processes) may influence judges in how they assess the remorse of defendants from marginalized racial and social groups during sentencing and how this can lead to sentencing inequalities. This research helps to model ways and contexts in which judges’ assessments of remorse may be misled or rooted in stereotypes. Further, it illuminates how novel forms of implicit bias may meaningfully shape sentencing and broader outcomes of those from marginalized racial and social groups.

Author

• Colleen Berryessa, Rutgers University