Race and Perceived Immorality in Stereotypes of Criminal Subtypes

Abstract

In past research on criminal stereotypes, individuals of different races have been stereotyped as being more likely to commit certain types of crimes. In this article, we draw on the “bad is Black” heuristic and identify a fundamental underlying dimension explaining such divergence: offenses deemed immoral were associated with Black individuals, while those deemed wrong but not necessarily immoral were associated with White individuals. Our evidence came from a data-driven method that is novel to applied legal psychological research—reverse correlation to produce classification images—and that enabled us to visualize lay persons’ criminal stereotypes. We interpreted this theoretical advance through the lens of our legal institutional context, exploring applications and implications of the finding.

Additional information

Funding

This research was partially supported by grants to the first author from the American Psychology-Law Society and the Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy. The first author also was supported by the Department of Defense (DoD) through the National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate Fellowship (NDSEG) Program.