It is clear that conscious and unconscious racism can affect the way black jurors, and black or white judges, police and prosecutors, perceive minority race defendants, witnesses and victims. He states that racial minorities have been on the receiving end of a good amount of injustice by the administrators of the criminal justice system and, therefore, have good reason to be skeptical of the system. Racist verdicts have occurred, and will in all likelihood occur in the future, whether by bench or jury. People know that race does matter. Advertisers know that race matters.
Politicians know that race matters.
Certainly attorneys know that race matters. The respondents were all college students of journalism classes which consisted mostly of sophomores and juniors. The sample is probably not representative of society as a whole. Additionally, because this was not an actual trial situation and because students are routinely surveyed on a variety of topics, the respondents in this study may have felt compelled to offer an opinion on the guilt of the suspects or felt that offering such a opinion would have no real consequences. Also, it is likely that the students did not regard this study as seriously as they might have than if they actually participated in a trial.