I heard a lady ask a black man what he thought about the Lefevre trial, whether she should be let go or not. He replied, “No Comment. All I can say is that there would be no question if it was me up there.”
http://www.mlive.com/saginawnews/news/index.ssf/2008/12/lefevre_to_remain_in_prison_wh.html
First of all, I didn’t think about it that way, theoretically swapping race before reaching an opinion. But he’s probably right; I doubt a black man would get as much compassion. People probably would say, “He’s commited the crime; he should do his time, no matter if it was decades ago and he is a responsible citizen now,” if it was a black man. I don’t think race is the only thing that would ellicit a different opinion, though. I think sex and socioeconomic status would also impact people’s view. It’s strange that we act that way and cannot discard our bias, but we really can’t.
This was a drug case, which I don’t think drugs should be illegal, so no matter the traits of the defendent I’d probably vote they go free, but if it were a robbery or something, I might be impacted by race, sex, social standing, and I believe you would too.
