Bias in the Criminal Legal System: A Report Aggregating Social Science Research and Reporting on Racial Bias in the Criminal Legal System

This report aggregates decades of research conducted by social scientists, government agencies, and nonpartisan organizations on racial bias in the criminal legal system. This research overwhelmingly suggests that racial bias—both implicit and explicit—infects every stage of the criminal process. Black and Latinx people are subject to more policing and arrests, increased pretrial detention, and harsher sentences than similarly situated white individuals.