Shadows of Doubt: Stereotypes, Crime, and the Pursuit of Justice

Brendan O'Flaherty; Rajiv Sethi

Published by Harvard University Press 2019

Shadows of Doubt

Stereotypes, Crime, and the Pursuit of Justice

Brendan O'Flaherty and Rajiv Sethi

https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674240162

Overview
Contents

About this book

Crime and punishment occur under extreme uncertainty. Offenders, victims, police, judges, and jurors make high-stakes decisions with limited information under severe time pressure. With compelling stories and data on how people act and react, O’Flaherty and Sethi reveal the extent to which we rely on stereotypes as shortcuts in our decision making.

Reviews

This book is extraordinary. I cannot conceive of a more important, judicious, well-reasoned, imaginative, comprehensive contribution to the debates about criminal justice. I hope its influence will be broad, deep, and permanent. Every national, state, and municipal policymaker should not only read but study it, and every active citizen, too, should take in its penetrating analyses of the causes and consequences of mass incarceration. Shadows of Doubt takes the debate to a new level.
-- Danielle Allen, Harvard University

A gripping work full of technical virtuosity, human decency, and moral seriousness.
-- Glenn Loury, Brown University

Convincing, inspiring, and galvanizing, Shadows of Doubt is a major contribution to the literature on crime, race, and the criminal justice system in the United States.
-- Samuel Bowles, Santa Fe Institute

Shadows of Doubt is compelling and readable; its message needs to be heard and understood more widely in America, and in the world.
-- Paul Seabright, Toulouse School of Economics and Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse

Shadows of Doubt is neither timid nor narrow in its approach to many of the key issues of crime and justice facing the U.S. The scope of the book is broad and in most respects it sheds new light on old problems with thoughtful analyses. While most economists are content to focus on a single topic (drugs, capital punishment, guns), O’Flaherty and Sethi employ a comprehensive approach to explaining crime.
-- Scott H. Decker Times Higher Education

A fantastic and sobering book.
-- Diane Coyle Enlightened Economist

A comprehensive argument that stereotyping infects virtually all interactions informing America’s criminal justice system…The authors also provide smart, sophisticated insights into the conditions that lead to high homicide rates and police use of lethal force…and America’s globally unmatched incarceration rate…Illuminating and constructive.
-- Publishers Weekly

Exceptional…Examines our troubled, racist criminal justice system with depth, maturity, pragmatism, and focus.
-- Scott Page Crooked Timber

The central thesis of Shadows of Doubt is that stereotypes cause interactions to play out in ways which make those very assumptions self-fulfilling.
-- Cate Brown RightsInfo

An important contribution to the understanding of how stereotypes are implicated in the working of the criminal justice system in the United States, and how they have made an impact on social justice…Eminently readable and, yet, does not compromise the depth of analysis.
-- Vijay Raghavan Economic and Political Weekly

Important analysis…O’Flaherty and Sethi offer hope that by shifting public discussion and changing the minds and hearts of legislators, errant criminal justice policies just might be reformed.
-- Choice

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
INTRODUCTION Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Stereotypes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	11
2. Crime Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	40
3. Robbery Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	51
4. Murder Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	63
5. Public Action Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	77
6. Police Stops Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	85
7. Use of Force Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	109
8. Lethal Force Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	122
9. Testimony Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	159
10. JUDGMENT Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	177
11. PUNISHMENT Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
12. JUSTICE Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	240
CONCLUSION: Hope Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	283
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	293
Works Cited Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	325
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	355
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	359

Language: English
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Pages
- Main content: 352
Keywords: Racial profiling; Black Lives Matter; Racial disparities; Discrimination; Fear of black men; Implicit bias; Police killings

eBook

Published: April 15, 2019
ISBN: 9780674240162