There are four new resources from the National Center for State Courts on implicit bias. The resources include a report of three pilot educational programs on implicit bias and shorter excerpts from the large report that can be used as stand-alone pieces for presentations, judicial education programs, committee meeting discussions, and so forth. Specifically, the four resources include:

 1. Helping Courts Address Implicit Bias: Resources for Education describes and evaluates pilot judicial education programs on implicit bias in three states and offers lessons learned. It also includes appendices with resource materials for programs on implicit bias.

2. Addressing Implicit Bias in the Courtsbriefly describes the implicit bias phenomenon and outlines potential strategies that court professionals can use to combat implicit bias.

3.  Implicit Bias: Frequently Asked QuestionsQuestions addresses some common questions about implicit bias and what contemporary science tells us about this cognitive phenomenon.

4. Strategies to Reduce the Influence of Implicit Bias identifies conditions that may give rise to implicitly biased judgment or behavior and details seven general approaches to address implicit bias in the courts based on current scientific research.

Research shows that individuals develop implicit attitudes and stereotypes as a routine process of sorting and categorizing the vast amounts of sensory information they encounter on an ongoing basis. Implicit, as opposed to explicit, attitudes and stereotypes operate automatically, without awareness, intent, or conscious control and can operate even in individuals who express low explicit bias. Because implicit biases are automatic, they can influence or bias decisions and behaviors, both positively and negatively, without an individual’s awareness. The new resources are provided to help courts raise awareness of implicit bias and potential strategies to address it.

All of the resources are available on the National Center for State Court’s  web site at http://www.ncsconline.org/D_Research/ref/implicit.html