Psychologist Jennifer Eberhardt investigates how subtle racial biases are interpreted in the brain. Her research, conducted both in the laboratory and in the field, reveals the extent to which racial imagery, and subsequent judgments based on imagery, suffuse our culture and influence different actions and outcomes for blacks and whites within the criminal justice system. For example, Eberhardt has shown that people jump to more negative conclusions when shown black faces versus white faces, and that having stereotypical black facial features correlate with tougher jury verdicts, longer prison terms, more death sentences and erroneous identifications.
