Our views on the criminal justice system have been forever altered now that we've learned about "the nerd defense," a term New York Defense lawyer Harvey Slovis coined for the routine in which he hands all his criminal defendants thick-rimmed, non-prescription eyewear before court appearances to make them seem less threatening. And though Rachel Maddow and Zooey Deschanel seem to use this same trick on television every week, it's angering some victims' families, as The Washington Post reports: "When all five men charged with a series of 2010 killings in the District showed up for their March trial sporting large-framed, non-prescription glasses, prosecutors couldn't let it go."

The downside of wearing fake frames, as the article points, is that the jury may find out (prosecutors have begun asking about the lenses) and then these faux-spectacled defendants seem all the more untrustworthy. Backfire. That hasn't stopped lawyers from supplying glasses to their clients. Sometimes, friends or family members have dropped them off during prison visits. And, sadly enough, there's actually scientific evidence that these frames could help influence a not-guilty verdict: "African American defendants wearing glasses were considered more intelligent, more honest, and less threatening than those without," per one 2008 study in the American Journal of Forensic Psychology. (Oddly, the same was not the case for white defendants.)

Of course, this is the same strategy that guys of all races use on job interviews, early dates, or presentations when they need to appear more intelligent. Still, we never realized a prescription (or lack thereof) could end up perjuring you. Next time you find yourself in front of judge, probably best to stick with contacts.

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