Descriptive Representation and Judicial Outcomes in Multiethnic Societies

Grossman, Guy; Gazal‐Ayal, Oren; Pimentel, Samuel D.; Weinstein, Jeremy M.

doi:10.1111/ajps.12187

Cited by 71 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…From a broader perspective, these results contribute to the investigation of unequal treatment of defendants in the judicial process. Differential treatment of minorities could emerge because of preferences, political reasons, in-group bias, or other systemic factors (Argys and Mocan 2004;Shayo and Zussman 2011;Abrams, Bertrand, and Mullainathan 2012;Alesina and La Ferrara 2014;Grossman et al 2016). In this paper, we show that emotional stress, imposed on judges externally, prompts them to impose harsher sentences on defendants who were unlucky enough to face the judge during the period of the stress.…”

Section: Summary and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 71%

Emotional Judges and Unlucky Juveniles

Eren

Mocan

2018

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics

103

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Employing the universe of juvenile court decisions in a US state between 1996 and 2012, we analyze the effects of emotional shocks associated with unexpected outcomes of football games played by a prominent college team in the state. We find that unexpected losses increase sentence lengths assigned by judges during the week following the game. Unexpected wins, or losses that were expected to be close contests ex ante have no impact. The effects of these emotional shocks are asymmetrically borne by black defendants. The impact of upset losses on sentence lengths is larger for defendants if their cases are handled by judges who received their bachelor's degrees from the university with which the football team is affiliated. Different falsification tests and a number of auxiliary analyses demonstrate the robustness of the findings. These results provide evidence for the impact of emotions in one domain on decisions in a completely unrelated domain among a uniformly highly educated group of individuals (judges) who make decisions after deliberation that involve high stakes (sentence lengths). They also point to the existence of a subtle and previously unnoticed capricious application of sentencing. (JEL D83, I23, J13, J15, K42, L83, Z21)

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Section: Summary and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 71%

Emotional Judges and Unlucky Juveniles

Eren

Mocan

2018

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics

103

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“…In the international context,Grossman et al (2016) find panel effects in multiethnic societies, with Arab defendants receiving more lenient punishments when there is at least one Arab judge on a criminal appeals panel (see also Gazal-Ayal and Sulitzeanu-Kenan, 2010).…”

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confidence: 99%

Bias and Judging

Harris

Sen

2019

Annu. Rev. Polit. Sci.

107

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How do we know whether judges of different backgrounds are biased? We review the substantial political science literature on judicial decision making, paying close attention to how judges' demographics and ideology can influence or structure their decision making. As the research demonstrates, characteristics such as race, ethnicity, and gender can sometimes predict judicial decision making in limited kinds of cases; however, the literature also suggests that these characteristics are far less important in shaping or predicting outcomes than is ideology (or partisanship), which in turn correlates closely with gender, race, and ethnicity. This leads us to conclude that assuming judges of different backgrounds are biased because they rule differently is questionable. Given that the application of the law rarely provides one objectively correct answer, it is no surprise that judges' decisions vary according to their personal backgrounds and, more importantly, according to their ideology.

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“…The idea that judge selection is important has been substantiated outside of the US as well. Grossman et al (2016) analyze rulings in Israeli courts and showed that the verdicts on Arab defendants vary significantly depending on whether there is at least one Arab member in the panel of judges.…”

Section: Courtsmentioning

confidence: 99%

1. At the Intersection: A Review of Institutions in Economic Development

Bó¹,

Finan²

2020

The Handbook of Economic Development and Institutions

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We present accepted basic arguments on the role of institutions in development and then discuss the corresponding empirical evidence in support (or not) of those arguments. Methodologically, our emphasis is on experimental evidence wherever available, and thematically we focus on political and legal institutions. In the political sphere, we distinguish between rules shaping representation and accountability, and state capacity. In the legal sphere we distinguish between the profile of legally sanctioned rights (such as property rights and the role of informality) and the workings of the judiciary and the quality of enforcement. We distil the lessons learned from the literature and present open questions in each topic, thus highlighting promising avenues for future empirical research. Institutions matter for growth and inclusive development. But despite increasing awareness of the importance of institutions on economic outcomes, there is little evidence on how positive institutional change can be achieved. The Economic Development and Institutions-EDIresearch programme aims to fill this knowledge gap by working with some of the finest economic thinkers and social scientists across the globe. The programme was launched in 2015 and will run for five years. It is made up of four parallel research activities: path-finding papers, institutional diagnostic, coordinated randomised control trials, and case studies. The programme is funded by the UK Department for International Development. For more information see http://edi.opml.co.uk.

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Descriptive Representation and Judicial Outcomes in Multiethnic Societies

Cited by 71 publications

References 49 publications

Emotional Judges and Unlucky Juveniles

Emotional Judges and Unlucky Juveniles

Bias and Judging

1. At the Intersection: A Review of Institutions in Economic Development

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