The issue of implicit bias has been of interest to public policy experts recently, since a series of high-profile confrontations between police and minorities.
“Implicit bias” is the idea that people hold stereotypes they might not even be aware that they have.
Shakyra Diaz is Policy Manager for the ACLU-Ohio. She says there’s unconscious stereotyping happening within law enforcement and the legal system on all levels.
For example, she says research shows no difference in drug use among the various racial and ethnic groups.
“Despite that, we are still seeing that people of color are stopped, searched, and arrested and imprisoned more punitively and more frequently than their white counterparts," says Diaz.
"In Cuyahoga County for example, black people are six times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than their white counterparts, despite similar use rates.”
Speaking on WCPN’s The Sound of Ideastoday, Diaz says training police to better recognize implicit bias can help but there’s often resistance from officers to acknowledge their prejudices.
Diaz says reducing implicit bias can also help reduce unreasonable searches and seizures, as outlined in the Fourth Amendment.