Enhancing justice reducing bias: Implicit bias concepts and strategies

The Tampa Bay Chapter of the Federal Bar Association and the Hillsborough County Bar Association Trial & Litigation Section will present a program highlighting lessons from the recently-published book Enhancing Justice, Reducing Bias (ABA Press 2017). In the first portion of this program, two of the authors of the book, Judge Bernice Donald and Professor Sarah Redfield, along with Professor Jason Nance, will create awareness of implicit bias and offers strategies for interrupting such bias. Their interactive presentation will provide real-world approaches focused on specific debiasing strategies that can be practiced and taken away to be adapted and used by the participants. This is not the old diversity training — this is new science and a new approach.

In the second session of this program, a panel of federal and state judges will discuss the roles and responsibilities of judges in enhancing justice by reducing bias. The judges will discuss real-life scenarios to illustrate how implicit bias can impact fair outcomes and how to intervene to interrupt such bias and reduce its negative impacts. The event is free but registration is required.