THE NERD DEFENSE 739
recently, in the media’s coverage of professional athletes.^68 The
aforementioned studies, coupled with popular culture’s portrayal
of intelligent people, demonstrate the significant impact of
wearing eyeglasses on the development of judgments and
perceptions of others.
II. THE UNOFFICIAL ROLE OF APPEARANCE IN THE COURTROOM
Physical appearance is intimately tied to stereotypes about a
person’s character traits,^69 and the triggering of stereotypes
based on appearance does not fade in a courtroom setting.^70
2008, 7:30 AM), http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/jun/18/
harrypotter.news (noting that Harry Potter book sales “have topped 400m
worldwide”). In the novels, Harry is marked by his thick-rimmed eyeglasses
and consistently outsmarts his nemeses. See, e.g., J.K. ROWLING, HARRY
POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE 20 (1998).
(^68) Harvard economist Roland Fryer suggests that professional athletes use
eyeglasses to convey a message: a positive, but false, message that eyeglasses
imbue the wearer with greater intelligence. See Stephen J. Dubner, Playing
the Nerd Card: A New Marketplace Podcast, FREAKONOMICS (May 31, 2012,
9:26 AM), http://www.freakonomics.com/2012/05/31/playing-the-nerd-card-
a-new-marketplace-podcast/. The “nerd” appearance is transforming the
images of National Basketball Association (NBA) players, with eyeglasses
intended to signify, “We’re much, much smarter than you think.” Sean
Gregory, NBA Nerd Alert, TIME (May 14, 2012),
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2113816-2,00.html; see
also Matt Ufford, NBA Finals Fashion: Shut Up, Everyone Looks Fine,
SBNATION (June 13, 2012, 9:00 AM), http://www.sbnation.com/
nba/2012/6/13/3079618/nba-finals-fashion-fake-glasses (quoting Dwayne
Wade) (stating that NBA players wear eyeglasses because “[i]t’s cool to be
smart [and] educated”).
(^69) SMITH & MALANDRO, supra note 2, §1.48, at 86.
(^70) A study conducted on the interplay between a defendant’s appearance
and an evaluation of a defendant found that attractive females (long hair and
cosmetics as opposed to short hair and no cosmetics) were more often given
short-term imprisonment ratings rather than long-term imprisonment ratings.
Angela S. Ahola et al., Is Justice Really Blind? Effects of Crime
Descriptions, Defendant Gender and Appearance, and Legal Practitioner
Gender on Sentences and Defendant Evaluations in a Mock Trial, 17
PSYCHIATRY, PSYCHOL. AND LAW 304, 319–20 (2010). This study further
noted that faces often trigger stereotypes, such that “[a] baby-faced defendant
will be considered less likely to have committed an offence intentionally, and