744 JOURNAL OF LAW AND POLICY
measures are taken because it is ingrained in American society
to judge others based on physical appearance:
We live in a society where people are bombarded with so
much information each day that they have learned to use
shortcut techniques to make decisions. One of these
shortcut techniques is to judge people based on initial
perceptions of their appearance, background, and
behavior. Once we have made these initial decisions
about an individual, all further communication is filtered
though this arrived-at perception. If we decide a person
“looks like a law student,” then we will proceed to treat
that perception as if it were an actual fact. We will
respond to the individual as though he actually was in
law school; that is, we might assume that he is an
intellectually capable, academically motivated, and
career-oriented person. It makes little difference whether
the initial perception is correct. People treat the
perception as accurate and make decisions from this base
of information.^90
Juries—composed of a cross-section of American society—
judge in this same way.^91 Jurors tend to consider any artificial
altering of a defendant’s physical appearance, including:
eyeglasses,^92 clothing style,^93 clothing color,^94 makeup,^95
(^90) SMITH & MALANDRO, supra note 2, §1.48, at 86.
(^91) Levenson, supra note 79, at 576–77.
(^92) See generally Brown, supra note 9, at 1 (finding that appliances that
“alter the appearance of eyes—namely eyeglasses—may influence our
perceptions of an individual who uses such devices”).
(^93) SMITH & MALANDRO, supra note 2, § 1.19, at 36–37 (“It is important
to coach your client and witnesses with regard to personal appearance factors.
Witnesses do not have a good understanding of how much their clothing can
affect the total impact in the courtroom.”). Although clothing alone may not
change perception, it takes only one juror to notice clothing details and to
share them with others in order to have an impact on the decision-making
process. Id. § 1.16, at 29.
(^94) An industry has emerged, called “color consulting,” in which
consultants advise defendants on what clothing and make-up to wear at trial.
Black colors should not be worn by defendants on trial for murder because
“the connotations associated with black tend to be consistent across cultures
and are deeply embedded in our minds.” Id. § 1.28, at 55. Red is associated