Judicial independence and lynching in historical context: an analysis of US States

Abstract

An independent judiciary is a centrally important economic institution, and one that facilitates and promotes the protection of property rights, thereby fostering economic growth and development. On the other hand, extrajudicial lynchings, at least in the context of US states, have been tied to a lack of property rights and their protection (Carden in Institutions and southern development: lynching as a signal of insecure property rights. Ph.D. Dissertation. Washington University, 2006). However, these two areas of research have not been simultaneously explored. This study rectifies that by evaluating how a relatively independent judiciary might affect lynching rates across US states between 1883 and 1930. Overall, the results suggest that a relatively more independent judiciary (as measured through the method of selection and term length) is associated with a lower likelihood of observing a lynching in a given jurisdiction. This is true for both state courts of last resort and state courts of general jurisdiction.