We casually joke within the black community about how other races have a difficult time telling us apart from others. It’s a widely-held belief among African Americans that other races feel that we all look alike. Unfortunately, science seems to confirm this to some extent and this speaks to yet another flaw in our justice system. Criminal cases in the judicial system are extremely reliant on eye witness accounts. Inaccuracy in cross-racial identification could mean the miscarriage of justice for many.
Cross-racial identification is when a person of one race is asked to identify a person of another race for a crime being investigated. In fact, a person experiences cross-racial impairment when attempting to positively identify people from other races. According to the Innocence Project, 74 percent of post-conviction DNA exoneration cases in the U.S. can be linked to eyewitness misidentification. The average length of time served for those wrongfully convicted was 13 years.
African Americans should be concerned with this issue because the legal community has not dedicated a great deal in resources to properly address this problem in the legal system. If the outcome of a case is built solely on an individual’s ability to accurately identify an individual, then an individual of another race is at a disadvantage. If there is no physical evidence involved, then the person being accused is at an even greater disadvantage.
African Americans accounted for 36% of all arrests made in 2008. African Americans account for 40.21% of the jail population and 40% of the US population that is on parole. We definitely have a vested interest in addressing these types of flaws in the justice system because it can affect future career opportunities for individuals and the overall financial stability of black households. Balance in the legal system cannot be achieved without addressing the unreliability of cross-racial identification in criminal cases.
Sources:
When Race Differs, Identification is Iffy
Why are Cross-Racial Eyewitness IDs Especially Unreliable?
Race and crime in the United States
Crime – Minorities In Prisons And Jails
