CALCRIM No. 209

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

strategies can help you fulfill this important responsibility. Y ou 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