Unfair Book Summary - Unfair Book explained in key points

Listen to the Intro

00:00

Unfair summary

Name: Unfair
Rating: 4.2 (13 reviews)
Author: Adam Benforado

Adam Benforado

The New Science of Criminal Justice

4.2 (13 ratings)

28 mins

Brief summary

"Unfair" by Adam Benforado discusses how our justice system is flawed due to unconscious biases. It exposes how what is perceived as fairness is often just a mirage, and how these flaws impact our society.

Topics

US Politics US History

Table of Contents

Unfair
Summary of 12 key ideas

Audio & text in the Blinkist app

Key idea 1 of 12

What’s in it for me? Discover what’s wrong with our legal system and what we can do about it.

In 2000, a 40-year-old, happily married Virginia schoolteacher began experiencing strange sexual urges, which eventually pushed him to begin collecting child pornography and even pushed him to attempt to molest his stepdaughter. When the man later sought help for severe headaches, a brain scan revealed a large tumor in his brain.

When the tumor was removed, all of his abnormal sexual urges disappeared. This unsettling episode raises important questions about criminality and guilt; in a case like this, who is really committing the crime, the man or the tumor?

And it is not only criminals whose behavior can be easily and unconsciously swayed by neurological shifts in the brain; judges, lawyers, cops and juries are all subject to cognitive biases that, taken together, have helped create a deeply unfair justice system in the United States.

These blinks will show you how the United States’ justice system is corrupted from all sides by our faulty brains, as well as the steps we can take to make the system fair.

In these blinks, you’ll learn

how David Rosenbaum of The New York Times died from a vomit stain on his shoulder;
why judges judge more fairly after lunch; and
why current ways of punishing criminals are just not working.

Hastily assigning the wrong labels to people can lead to unfair treatment.

Can a vomit stain make the difference between life and death? It did for New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum. After he was attacked on the street, passersby who found him lying unconscious on the curb spotted a vomit stain on his jacket. They thus assumed he was just another drunk and not in critical condition.

Tragically, David ultimately died from head injuries, and things might well have turned out differently if he hadn’t been mislabeled.

Unfortunately, these kinds of mistakes aren’t rare. Humans are quick to jump to conclusions based on scant evidence, largely due to the interplay between two main processes that order our brains.

First, the automatic process takes in a scene and forms rapid conclusions based on the evidence presented, disregarding missing pieces. Second, the deliberative mental process works through information more diligently and can override these initial impressions.

In David’s case, firefighters, cops and hospital staff all attributed the vomit stain to drunkenness via the automatic process. Without deferring to the deliberative process, they all discounted the possibility that he was actually in need of urgent medical attention.

This story demonstrates the fact that how we label victims affects how their cases are handled.

Consider this neurological study: when people looked at photos of Olympic athletes, middle-class Americans or the disabled, the region of their brain involved with human interaction was activated. But, when asked to look at photos of homeless people and addicts, participants registered no activity in that area; instead, their brain activity corresponded with feelings of disgust.

This study confirms a sad fact: most of us don’t regard those who are desperately down and out as human beings with feelings and needs. Instead, we tend to view alcoholism and similar disorders as choices, or voluntary behaviors. This tendency is called moral distancing, and it leads us to treat substance abusers differently.

Clearly, we need to avoid assigning damaging labels to others. In the next blink, you’ll find out how.

Suspects are subject to grueling interrogations, which can lead to false confessions.

Consider the story of Juan Rivera, an Illinois man who falsely confessed to the rape and murder of an eleven-year-old girl. His semen didn’t match the sample in the police evidence and he had an alibi, but he was still sent to prison. Although he was eventually freed after wrongly spending over 15 years in prison, the question remains: why do people confess to crimes they didn’t commit?

One key factor is that we automatically assume people believe what they say, even when we have evidence to the contrary. For instance, in one famous study, researchers asked people to evaluate various essays about Fidel Castro. Even though participants were told that the authors had been randomly assigned pro- or anti-Castro positions, readers still believed the pro-Castro writers were genuinely committed to their stances.

Brain trauma and situational factors lead people to criminality.

Few people are born evil. Rather, there are certain behavioral or situational circumstances – like poverty, social pressure or even brain trauma – that can lead people to criminality.

The brain is naturally what controls our thoughts, emotions and behavior, but it is also hugely complex, and different parts of the brain each have a massive impact on how we act.

Like the rest of us, lawyers manage to maintain a virtuous self-image – even when they break rules.

Dishonest behavior is far more common than we’d like to believe; almost everyone breaks rules from time to time. Some people illegally download movies, others fudge the numbers to pad out their expense accounts and students sometimes cheat on tests or assignments.

But here’s the interesting part: we lie to ourselves to justify this kind of unethical behavior, all in order to preserve a virtuous self-image.

Jurors’ life experiences, as well as camera perspective bias, can powerfully influence a verdict.

Any time a politician denies the existence of climate change, people rush to call him an idiot – but is that actually fair? It can be hard to accept, but other people might have a reasonable justification for holding different views from one’s own.

Ultimately, our disagreements reflect differences in our backgrounds, not character flaws.

Human memory is extremely unreliable and erroneous eyewitness accounts lead to wrongful convictions.

We like to think otherwise, but eyewitness accounts are extremely unreliable, and this can have tragic consequences.

This was the case for John Jerome White – an elderly woman wrongly identified him as the man who broke into her home and raped her.

Like the rest of us, experts fail to accurately distinguish lies from truth.

We tend to trust experts, believing that their training and experience allows them to detect lies and unravel the truth. But unfortunately, that’s just not the case.

For starters, regular people and experts alike usually fail at detecting lies, as numerous studies have confirmed. Generally, most of the conventional wisdom we hear about spotting lies isn’t borne out of fact; an averted gaze doesn’t necessarily indicate a fib, and liars tend to fidget less than truth-tellers, not more.

Justice isn’t blind; everything from social background to momentary bouts of hunger can determine judicial bias.

Blind justice is one of the foundational principles of democracy. Accordingly, we expect judges to remain objective and unbiased by keeping their personal views out of the courtroom.

But, of course, that doesn’t always happen. How else would you explain the fact that judges who have a daughter, rather than a son, are 16 percent more likely to decide gender-related civil rights cases in favor of women’s rights?

The public’s desire for retribution skews our justice system.

Nobody wants to admit it, but a central goal of the US justice system is not only to deter potential offenders and incapacitate dangerous people – it also punishes out of vengeance.

To illustrate this point, psychologist Geoff Goodwin looked at public responses to shark attacks in order to determine the extent to which people were motivated by retribution.

Solitary confinement is not only ineffective, it’s torture.

Compared to other countries, the United States’ justice system is unique – and not in a good way. Minor crimes are penalized far more harshly than in other places, and the United States is the only Western country where capital punishment is still legal.

Plus, the prison system continues to embrace solitary confinement. Though proponents argue that keeping inmates in isolation leads to self-reflection and remorse, that’s simply not the case. As we’ve seen in earlier blinks, criminals aren’t necessarily rational people who made bad decisions based on clear reasoning or deliberation.

There are three challenges that must be overcome to have a fairer justice system.

We’ve learned all about the fundamental injustice of the United States’ justice system. If citizens take action, they can reform the justice system to make it fairer. But in doing so, they will face three challenges:

First, they will need to eliminate the establishment-supported notion that simple self-reflection can eliminate bias. Overstating our own objectivity entrenches our most deep-seated biases, which leads to unfair sentences.

The United States must restructure its justice system on the basis of scientific evidence and reduce dependence on human faculties.

As we’ve established, the United States’ justice system has a lot of problems. But the biggest problem of all is the fact that Americans have gotten used to it! This needs to be the starting point for all reform efforts.

In this way, instead of accepting the status quo, Americans can restructure the system on the basis of scientific evidence rather than conventional wisdom.

Want to see all full key ideas from Unfair?

Key ideas in Unfair

More knowledge in less time

Read or listen

Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.

Find your next read

Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.

Shortcasts ^New

We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.

What is Unfair about?

Unfair (2015) outlines the major flaws inherent to the United States’ justice system. In addition to the unreliability of eyewitness testimony or the arbitrary nature of many judges’ decisions, every actor in the entire justice system – cops, lawyers, jurors and judges alike – is fundamentally, yet unconsciously, biased. Ultimately, the author argues that addressing these blind biases is the key to reforming our justice system.

Best quote from Unfair

The labels we give victims can make a big difference in how their cases are handled.

—Adam Benforado

Who should read Unfair?

Anyone interested in law, ethics and society
Lawyers and law students curious about the foundations of the US justice system
Anyone with aspirations to change the world for the better

About the Author

Adam Benforado is an associate professor of law at Drexel University. He served as a clerk on the United States Court of Appeals and worked as an attorney at Jenner & Block. His scholarly articles, op-eds and essays have appeared in various publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Emory Law Journal.

Categories with Unfair

Psychology Society & Culture

Book summaries like Unfair

Doing Justice

Preet Bharara

A Prosecutor’s Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law

29 min

4.7

The 50th Law

50 Cent and Robert Greene

50 Cent's Secrets to Fearlessness and Success

18 min

4.0

To Kill a Mockingbird

Harper Lee

A Pulitzer Prize-Winning Classic on Racial Prejudice & Injustice

26 min

4.8

The Secret Barrister

Stories of the Law and How It’s Broken

21 min

4.2

Ideaflow

Jeremy Utley & Perry Klebahn

The Only Business Metric That Matters

Say Less to Get More from Any Pitch or Presentation

A Post-Apocalyptic Dystopia Where Violence Is a Tool to Control

23 min

4.8

Read People Like a Book

Patrick King

How to Analyze, Understand, and Predict People’s Emotions, Thoughts, Intentions, and Behaviors

14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer

Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts

21 min

4.4

Big Feelings

Mollie West Duffy and Liz Fosslien

How to be Okay When Things Are Not Okay

25 min

4.2

Sex, Murder and the Meaning of Life

Douglas T. Kenrick

A Psychologist Investigates How Evolution, Cognition, and Complexity Are Revolutionizing Our View of Human Nature

How One Emotion Connects Altruists, Psychopaths and Everyone in Between

Advice from the Chairman of the Board

18 min

4.6

Toward a Psychology of Being

Abraham H. Maslow

Understanding Human Nature & the Fundamentals of Our Well-Being

21 min

4.5

The Seven Sins of Memory

Daniel L. Schacter

How the Mind Forgets and Remembers

When It Works and When It Doesn't

The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.

Neoliberalism and Global Order

An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making

19 min

4.2

The Desert and the Sea

Michael Scott Moore

977 Days Captive on the Somali Pirate Coast

24 min

4.6

How to Start a Start-up

ThinkApps

The Silicon Valley Playbook for Entrepreneurs

12 min

3.8

That Little Voice in Your Head

Mo Gawdat

Adjust the Code That Runs Your Brain

20 min

4.5

Better Living Through Criticism

A.O. Scott

How to Think About Art, Pleasure, Beauty and Truth

16 min

3.6

The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs

Steve Brusatte

A New History of a Lost World

28 min

4.6

Good Strategy, Bad Strategy

Richard Rumelt

The Difference and Why It Matters

21 min

4.2

Social Justice Fallacies

Thomas Sowell

A Thought-Provoking Challenge to Modern Social Justice Narratives

17 min

3.6

Podcasting Marketing Strategy

Daniel Rowles and Ciaran Rogers

A Complete Guide to Creating, Publishing, and Monetizing a Successful Podcast

21 min

4.2

The Distracted Mind

Adam Gazzaley and Larry D. Rosen

Ancient Brains in a High-Tech World

Creative Living Beyond Fear

The Biohacker's Guide to Getting the Body and Mind You Want

A Guide to Building a Home for Your Soul

Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life

18 min

4.1

What’s Going on in There?

Lise Eliot

How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life

22 min

4.2

What Your ADHD Child Wishes You Knew

Sharon Saline

Working Together to Empower Kids for Success in School and Life

A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind

The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

22 min

4.6

The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding

Al Ries and Laura Ries

Bite-sized branding tips from a dynamic marketing duo

And Other Unexpected Forces that Shape How We Think, Feel, and Behave

22 min

4.2

What Philosophy Can Teach You About Being a Better Leader

Alison Reynolds

Learn how to use philosophical principles in your personal and work life

28 min

4.3

The Art of Simple Food

Alice Waters

Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution

17 min

3.9

The Wealth of Nations

Adam Smith

The most influential economic book of all time

Restoring the Promise of America

18 min

Working in the Gig Economy

Thomas Oppong

How to Thrive and Succeed When You Choose to Work for Yourself

Merging Technologies and People for the Workforce of the Future

Find Out What People Really Think, What They Really Want, and Who They Really Are

How Britain Made the Modern World

Truth, Transparency, and Trust

30 min

3.9

A Year of Positive Thinking

Cyndie Spiegel

Daily Inspiration, Wisdom, and Courage

On Race, Identity and Belonging

33 min

4.4

People ❤️ Blinkist

Sven O.

It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.

Thi Viet Quynh N.

Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.

Jonathan A.

Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.

Renee D.

Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.