Racism and bias are often thought to stem from an individual’s personal prejudice against a certain group, but social psychologist Nick Camp notes that isn’t the way many inequities are perpetuated in the criminal justice system.

In a new Social Science Bites podcast, interviewer David Edmonds interviews Camp on his research that investigates the relationships citizens experience in the criminal justice system– covering name bias, the use of body cams as data, and a dire dimension of systemic racism in the United States.

Nick Camp is a researcher affiliated with the Research Center for Group Dynamics at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research and a professor in the Department of Organizational Studies at the University of Michigan.

Headline research findings:

In a study of name bias, Camp found that in sentencing decisions of Black male inmates in Florida, judges imposed more severe sentences on defendants with stereotypical Black names: A man named “Jamal” would be imprisoned an additional year (409 days) compared to one named James. 

Camp has used police body camera footage as data to show racial disparities in officer respect, and to show the effectiveness of training conducted to improve communication in traffic stop encounters. 

On the podcast, Camp describes how these encounters can have an impact on trust in the criminal justice system, with important consequences.

“One of the things that we know from research and procedural justice is that when people don’t view policing as legitimate, they’re less likely to cooperate with police requests for assistance, for example,” Camp tells Edmonds in the podcast. “Until now, it’s hard to find experimental evidence for this, but one of the things we can use body cameras for is not just to look at disparities in these interactions, but their consequences.”

Camp’s current work at the Research Center for Group Dynamics (RCGD) HomeLab is assessing the physical and psychological impact of police disrespect across race. 

Camp is currently the organizer of a weekly seminar series on the “Social Psychology of Systemic Racism,” offered by RCGD this fall.

Find the podcast, including a full transcript, from Social Science Bites.

Contact: Tevah Platt