Ethical Justice HOW YOU DECIDE MAKES A DIFFERENCE 1 Texas Juvenile Justice Department Juvenile Justice Training Academy Metric Blvd., Bldg. H, Suite A Austin, Texas

TELLING A LIE Performance Objectives Understand the sources that contribute to our ethics Understand the term “Implicit Bias” and the sources that contribute to our own set of biases Learn what can be done to mitigate this bias from our decision making Who did you pick to manage your money? 2

ETHIC (S) ethikos To begin you have to understand what your brain is working on all the time. Unless you are sleeping your brain is constantly evaluating and making judgements about what is going on in the world around you. All your senses are constantly taking in data and putting that data to work for you. A lot of this data gathering is to your benefit. It keeps you out of danger and alive. This data helps you perform tasks that most of us as adults take for granted. What I would like us to focus on is that aspect of this process that contributes to making judgments. 3

IMPLICIT BIAS is the bias in judgment and/or behavior that results from subtle cognitive processes (e.g., implicit attitudes and implicit stereotypes) that often operate at a level below conscious awareness and without intentional control. The underlying implicit attitudes and stereotypes responsible for implicit bias are those beliefs or simple associations that a person makes between an object and its evaluation that “...are automatically activated by the mere presence (actual or symbolic) of the attitude object” this research illustrates the impressive automaticity of the human mind 4

IMPACT Who did you pick to manage your money? 5 Researchers have found that most people, even those who embrace nondiscrimination norms, hold implicit biases that might lead them to treat black Americans in discriminatory ways. If implicit bias is as common among judges as it is among the rest of the population, it might even account for more of the racially disparate outcomes in the criminal justice system than explicit bias.

The offense report and the impressions of the law enforcement officer can contribute to the decision made to detain or to send someone home. Of course of all of these cumulative experiences to this point could determine how the initial detention hearing goes for that juvenile who is now in front of a judge that is using information provided by individuals who collectively may not even be aware of how far their own individual biases have contributed to the decisions made by the judge. The list goes on and on from rules of probation that are imposed to recommendations made by all those involved. The only way to guard against the undue influences of the bias within each of us is to put into place safety nets that can protect the individual as best as can be done from the power of “Implicit Bias.” The list on the slide includes key decision points during which “Implicit Bias” not only could influence but does at times steer the response on the part of the individual responsible for a decision. This is not to say that there are not other intersections when an event is processed that could be influenced by “Implicit Bias” however these are some of the most critical. It begins with law enforcement and how an individual responds to an incident. Depending on how that response proceeds you could end up with a person getting a verbal warning, receiving a citation or even taken into custody. The discretionary authority of the officer can certainly be influenced by implicit bias. If the officer takes the person into custody then how that person writes up their report could be impacted and the way in which the event is documented in an offense report will be the first impression made on the intake officer other than what the law enforcement officer passes on verbally. 6

7 MITIGATION DA Andrews AWARENESS DATA ASSESSMENTS R-N-R TEAMWORK 60,033 REFERRALS98%

8 Write down TWO things you can use from this presentation in the work that you do. ACTION PLAN Thank you for attending this webinar presentation created by the Juvenile Justice Training Academy. Please help us to deliver training relevant to the work you do by completing any surveys at the end of this webinar. Your feedback is appreciated.