What Attorneys Do To Challenge Critical Police Report Bias
How can a police report be biased in a domestic-violence case? Through what Oakland attorney Darryl Stallworth calls confirmatory bias—an officer who believes someone did wrong writes the report that way, choosing adjectives that corroborate the accuser's account. He stresses it's rarely malicious; it flows from the instinct to protect and serve. Still, that framing often hurts the accused client.
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Answered by Darryl Stallworth · Oakland, CA
Highlights
— what he calls confirmatory bias in how officers write the report
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a police report be biased in a DV case?
Yes—through what he calls confirmatory bias: an officer who believes someone did wrong writes the report that way, choosing adjectives that corroborate the accuser's account. It's rarely malicious, flowing from the instinct to protect and serve, but that framing often hurts the accused.
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