  We show that the carrier recombination rate of noncentrosymmetric materials
can be strongly modified by spin-orbit coupling. Our proposed mechanism
involves the separation of conduction and valence bands into their respective
spin components, which changes the transition dipole moments between them. The
change in the carrier recombination can be either positive or negative in sign,
or vary depending on the location of carriers in the Brillouin zone. We have
performed a large scale DFT screening study to identify candidate materials
that display this effect. We have selected three materials, Pb$_4$SeBr$_6$,
ReTe$_3$Br$_5$, and CsCu(BiS$_2$)$_2$, which span the range of behaviors, and
discuss their electronic band structure in greater detail. We find transition
dipole moment enhancement factors of up to three orders of magnitude,
reflecting the physical impact of spin-orbit coupling on the carrier lifetime.
Therefore, further explorations of the spin-orbit coupling and lattice symmetry
could prove to be useful for manipulating the photophysics of materials.
