A Solution to reform the American Criminal Justice System
The recent murder of Daunte Wright, an innocent Black man killed by police in Minneapolis, is yet another signal to us that our criminal justice system is in desperate need of reform. Politicians, activists, and philanthropists have offered various solutions, such as defunding the police, abolishing our punitive prison system, and most commonly, voting. We can and should do all of these things, but they alone will not prevent the senseless, ruthless killings of Black people in our country.
That’s because none of these reforms gets to the root cause of this violence—racial bias.
That’s because none of these reforms gets to the root cause of this violence—racial bias. Bias comes in two forms. One is conscious bias, which is awareness of one’s thoughts and beliefs about a group of people, such as Black people. When we hear someone use dehumanizing language that characterizes a group of people as rapists or criminals, for example, we know that the individual harbors conscious bias.
Then there is unconscious bias, also known as hidden bias, implicit bias, and sometimes subconscious bias. Call it what you will, but unconscious bias is a learned habit of thought that distorts how we perceive, reason, remember, and make decisions. This is the more nefarious of the two because it leads good-intentioned people to think, say, and do things that have just as harmful results as conscious bias on the lives of Black people and other non-dominant groups.
Call it what you will, but unconscious bias is a learned habit of thought that distorts how we perceive, reason, remember, and make decisions.
We are now facing a situation where the worst effects of conscious and unconscious racial bias are coming together to prevent Black people from merely existing. Voting for the “right” candidate for public office won’t solve this problem. Regardless of what politicians say, like all of us, they carry unconscious racial biases. And continued voter suppression efforts in places like Georgia, Arkansas, and Michigan make it nearly impossible for voters of color to elevate the solutions and officials they seek to replace those already in power.
Defunding the police won’t solve this problem either. Whatever public safety system replaces our heavily militarized police will still hire people who carry flawed and racist notions about Black people’s culpability with them.
Elevating more Black people to positions of power also won’t solve this problem. Research shows that a substantial plurality of Black people carry unconscious biases towards other Black people—think of all of the Black and other officers of color responsible for murders of people like Freddie Gray and George Floyd.
Target Racial Bias with Vetting
What we need is a system of vetting. People who harbor racist beliefs should not be in public office or be public servants. Or else, why is the public paying them?
The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) defines vetting as “the processes of assessing the integrity of individuals to determine their suitability for public employment.” South Africa’s transition from Apartheid to a multiracial democracy is a prime example. In exchange for admitting the truth, former Apartheid operatives were granted amnesty and then vetted out of the government. In this way, the transitioning government of South Africa, to the best of their ability, ensured that racist people no longer made public policy. Was the process perfect? No. Is racism still a challenge in South Africa? Absolutely. However, no person in South Africa will ever deny the evil of racism and its history in that nation.
With the will of the public, we can adapt vetting to our case in the United States in three steps.
With the will of the public, we can adapt vetting to our case in the United States in three steps: identify beliefs and biases of public servants; provide them a required time-bound option of rehabilitation; and if they fail, hold them accountable by vetting them out of public office and barring them from running again. The process is aligned with our democratic ideals because it says to public servants: You represent all of us as one people and if you continue to harbor racist beliefs and biases, you are not fit to represent us and get paid by us.
Peter Drucker, the grandfather of modern day management consulting, famously said, “If you can measure it, you can manage it.” In the last four decades, social scientists have designed various surveys and psychological instruments that allow us to measure the strength of people’s conscious and unconscious biases within 10-15 minutes. The first step is to apply this science to measure racist beliefs and biases among each and every public servant in our nation. Knowledge is power and such a system can be easily deployed through technology.
Like lawyer and activist Bryan Stevenson, I believe that every person is not the worst thing they’ve done or thought. Thus, as a second step, public servants should be given a chance to rehabilitate themselves through science-backed, compassion-based tools that help them overcome their biased habits of thoughts and relearn habits that no longer stereotype and dehumanize Black people and other non-dominant groups. This can be done through rigorous breaking bias programs that help people not only shift their flawed belief systems—like the belief that Black people have less sensitive pain receptors, which studies have shown many people still harbor—but also learn how to regulate their nervous system so as to not shoot people for merely being Black.
As a scientist, educator, and lawyer, I have dedicated my life to understanding the nature of bias and training people in breaking bias. Like many people, I too am allergic to the word anti-bias training. And rightly so. These trainings have not worked for decades despite the billions we’ve spent on them. I’ve been to dozens and observed that few show participants how to actively break bias. Saying “don’t be racist” in a racist society is not good enough. People need to be taught how to do it.
What’s more, bias is a habit, much like an addiction similar to smoking or binge eating. To expect someone to stop smoking after attending an hourlong, daylong, or even weeklong anti-smoking seminar is to set them up for complete failure.
Just as we build new habits such as healthy eating, exercising, or active listening, breaking bias needs to be practiced on a daily basis.
Just as we build new habits such as healthy eating, exercising, or active listening, breaking bias needs to be practiced on a daily basis. The science of neuroplasticity shows that this can be done in as little as four to six weeks, but it requires skillful facilitation and willing participation.
The gravest failure of the current training system is its complete lack of accountability. People often attend anti-bias trainings not with a desire to change, but because they are mandatory. While we give second chances, we also need to institute accountability and measure behavioral change. This is the third and final step. We have the scientific tools to measure bias and progress made toward actual shifts in beliefs, bias reduction, and behavior change.
In a system of vetting, the motivation to change is clear—public officers are given the chance to save their job and livelihood through rehabilitation. If they refuse to change, they lose their job and are vetted out.
Without accountability, we will continue to repeat what has been happening in our nation for centuries: horrific violence against Black people and other non-dominant groups followed by uprisings every few years that never fully lead to systemic change.
Imagine what our classrooms, hospitals, and cities will look like once this rehabilitation and vetting process has been implemented. And while I’ve discussed how vetting is essential to public servants because they are voted in by the public and get paid through our tax dollars, I don’t see why a similar consumer-led system couldn’t be applied to nonprofits and corporations. We have the science, technology, and the tools to make this happen relatively inexpensively. It is what will save our democracy and billions of wasted dollars lost to violence, entrenched poverty, and ineffective trainings. The question now is are we willing to do it?