Most informed Americans recognize — whatever our justice system’s claims to the contrary — that people who run into trouble with the law often face unfair treatment due to their race, class or gender. Prejudice can also work in a defendant’s favor, as millions of television viewers witnessed earlier this year while watching the HBO documentary “The Jinx.” They saw Robert Durst beat a murder rap in Galveston, Texas, because his attorneys succeeded at playing on the jury’s regional and gender biases. They portrayed the millionaire Durst as the persecuted victim of Westchester County DA Jeanine Pirro, a “politically ambitious woman” from the East Coast.

Neuroscience explains why our justice system keeps sending innocent people to prison — and letting guilty ones go