4.5 Biases in an investigation
It is clear that there is the potential for bias to have a significant impact on a criminal investigation. As was said previously, confirmation bias may mean detectives focus on evidence of guilt and obviously unconscious bias could mean they are disproportionately likely to see people from certain sectors of society as being guilty.
You have been participating in the investigation but do you think you have demonstrated any bias?
Activity 6
Think back to the last two tasks you completed, in which you first said which suspect you thought was most likely to be guilty and then what evidence should be the initial focus in investigating each suspect. Do you think any of your decisions may have been biased?
Before reading the text below, see if you can spot an bias in your decisions and thinking. Did you show any confirmation bias, for example, or were your decisions affected by anchoring?
In describing each suspect, a possible anchoring effect was introduced by beginning the description with a positive piece of information for Costi and Mick but began with something negative for Dorek. Anchoring suggests that this could have led to you forming a more negative opinion of Dorek.
The list of possible routes of enquiry for each suspect contained one element that would establish that person’s innocence (such as confirming their alibi) and other elements aimed at establishing their guilt (such as a neighbour having seen them on the day of the crime). Confirmation bias would suggest that you may have chosen to focus on potential evidence of guilt for the person you thought most likely to be guilty and on potential evidence of innocence for the other two suspects. Did the initial step for the enquiry differ according to whether you thought the suspect was likely to be guilty or innocent? If it did, you may well have been affected by confirmation bias.