(Program to be published in UC Davis Law Review)
In the law, we tend to think of bias in the straightforward context of claims of employment or housing discrimination. However, the potential for bias reaches more fundamentally across every participant category within the legal system. The goal of this panel presentation is to attempt to deal systemically with bias in the law. Law is a distinctively human activity, involving a series of human actors--clients, lawyers, judges, jurors, witnesses, and experts. The potential for bias, whether express or implicit, touches everyone involved in the legal drama and reaches across every area of the law through its human actors within the legal arena. There has been little attempt to discuss the full range of ramifications across the legal system. Instead, discussions typically take aim at one specific issue, such as mistaken eyewitness identifications, or judicial bias, without examining the broader context. Remedies for bias have tended to be area-specific--such as laws against employment discrimination, ethical rules for lawyers and judges, and restrictions on the use of peremptory juror challenges. The goals of this panel presentation are (1) to encourage a broader discussion, and recognition, of the potential role of bias in judicial proceedings; and (2) to identify commonalities in recognizing and remedying bias.