Bias, Trust, and Trustworthiness: An Experimental Study of Post Justice System Outcomes

The stigma attached to any criminal record, including for those found not guilty, can lead to reduced job prospects and economic hardship long after judicial proceedings conclude. This paper examines discriminatory behavior of experimental participants who are given the opportunity to base an investment or employment decision on their trustee’s/worker’s criminal record. Similar to the real world, our experiment shows that employers and investors discriminate against those with criminal convictions. Surprisingly, we find they also discriminate against those with acquittals. We find that a subject’s reciprocity corresponds significantly to the true guilt or innocence of an accused, but not to conviction or acquittal of a crime. Because reciprocator behavior does not depend on a person’s criminal record, no rational basis exists for the observed statistical discrimination against those who have been accused. Our results raise serious concerns about the practice of using criminal records in hiring, as convictions are often poor indicators of actual culpability.