By: Michael J. McConnell, NY Criminal Defense Attorney
When police or prosecutors decide someone is guilty, they often start looking only for facts that fit that idea. This is called confirmation bias.
Confirmation bias is something that impacts all of us. We’re human after all. But the problem is that it can have disastrous consequences when it comes to who is arrested, prosecuted, and brought to trial in the criminal legal system.
In a criminal case, confirmation bias can ruin lives. People can be wrongfully arrested. Once the momentum is against them, prosecutors might not see the weaknesses or holes in their case. They put blinders on so to speak. And by the time the case ends up in court in front of a jury, the fear is that the deck is stacked against an innocent person such that a jury might convict the person of a crime that they didn’t do all because of confirmation bias.
Confirmation bias shows up in many ways:
- Police focus on one suspect and ignore other leads.
- Witnesses are asked questions that steer them toward one story.
- Evidence that doesn’t fit the theory gets minimized or tossed aside.
The result? Innocent people get arrested. Innocent people plead guilty. Innocent people go to prison.
As a criminal defense lawyer, I don’t take the police report at face value. I don’t assume the story is true just because it’s written down. My job is simple and strict:
- Test every claim.
- Look for what was missed.
- Challenge weak evidence.
- Find facts that point to another explanation.
Good defense work means forcing the system to answer hard questions. Who looked for other suspects? Who collected the evidence? Was anything left out, lost, or misread? Those questions matter. They stop mistakes.
If you’re charged with a crime, don’t let the first theory become your fate. A careful defense checks assumptions, digs up the real facts, and fights confirmation bias at every step.
If you want an honest review of the police report and the evidence, call a diligent and proactive Westchester County criminal defense attorney who will look beyond the story and make sure the facts — not a hasty assumption — decide the outcome.
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