CALCRIM No. 209. Implicit or Unconscious Bias
Judicial Council of California Criminal Jury Instructions (2024 edition)
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209.Implicit or Unconscious Bias
In your role as a juror, you must not let bias influence your assessment
of the evidence or your decisions.
I will now provide some information about how bias might affect
decisionmaking. Our brains help us navigate and respond quickly to
events by grouping and categorizing people, places, and things. We all do
this. These mental shortcuts are helpful in some situations, but in the
courtroom they may lead to biased decisionmaking.
Bias can affect what we notice and pay attention to, what we see and
hear, what we remember, how we perceive people, and how we make
decisions. We may favor or be more likely to believe people whom we see
as similar to us or with whom we identify. Conversely, we may disfavor
or be less likely to believe people whom we see as different.
Although we are aware of some of our biases, we may not be aware of
all of them. We refer to those biases as “implicit” or “unconscious.”
They may be based on stereotypes we would reject if they were brought
to our attention. Implicit or unconscious biases can affect how we
perceive others and how we make decisions, without our being aware of
their effect.
To ensure that bias does not affect your decisions in this case, consider
the following steps:
1. Reflect carefully and thoughtfully about the evidence. Think
about why you are making each decision and examine it for bias.
Resist the urge to jump to conclusions or to make judgments
based on personal likes or dislikes, generalizations, prejudices,
stereotypes, or biases.
2. Consider your initial impressions of the people and the evidence
in this case. Would your impressions be different if any of the
people were, for example, of a different age, gender, race,
religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or national origin? Was
your opinion affected because a person has a disability or speaks
in a language other than English or with an accent? Think about
the people involved in this case as individuals. Focusing on
individuals can help reduce the effect of stereotypes on
decisionmaking.
3. Listen to the other jurors. Their backgrounds, experiences, and
insights may be different from yours. Hearing and sharing
different perspectives may help identify and eliminate biased
conclusions.
The law demands that jurors make unbiased decisions, and these
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strategies can help you fulfill this important responsibility. You must
base your decisions solely on the evidence presented, your evaluation of
that evidence, your common sense and experience, and these instructions.
New September 2023
BENCH NOTES
Instructional Duty
This instruction may be given on request or sua sponte.
AUTHORITY
• Right to Unbiased Jurors. Pen. Code, § 745(a).
• Conduct Exhibiting Bias Prohibited. Pen. Code, § 1127h; Standard 10.20(b) of
the California Standards of Judicial Administration.
• Implicit Bias in Decisionmaking. People v. McWilliams (2023) 14 Cal.5th 429,
451 [304 Cal.Rptr.3d 779, 796, 524 P.3d 768, 782] (conc. opn. of Liu, J.)
[discussing empirical studies]; United States v. Ray (6th Cir. 2015) 803 F.3d 244,
259-260 & fn. 8 [defining the concept of implicit bias and recognizing its
impact].
210-218. Reserved for Future Use
POST-TRIAL: INTRODUCTORY CALCRIM No. 209
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© Judicial Council of California.
