Judicial Selection and Criminal Punishment

Taylor, Travis N.

doi:10.1086/713470

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 86 publications

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“…Even today, research suggests that officials still believe punitiveness returns an electoral benefit. In highly contested electoral environments, Gunderson (2022) finds that Democratic governors outincarcerate Republican peers, and, at the local level, Taylor (2021) shows that elected state trial court judges outincarcerate trial court judges in states where they are not subject to democratic accountability. While the true size of this accountability effect may have decreased alongside punitive mood since the 1990s, we expect it is still directionally accurate.…”

Section: Electoral Choice and Prosecutorial Discretionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Judging prosecutors: Public support for prosecutorial discretion

Nelson

Samarth

2022

Research & Politics

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Prosecutors have immense discretion to determine which offenses to charge, which cases to take to trial, and which sentences to recommend. Yet, even though many of the prosecutors who exercise this discretion over important crimes must face the electorate to keep their jobs, we know little about how the use of this discretion affects prosecutors’ electoral fortunes. Drawing on two experiments embedded in a nationally representative survey, we demonstrate that the public is more supportive of prosecutors who issue lenient sentences for low-level crimes. The results have important implications for criminal justice reform inasmuch as they provide a linkage between progressive prosecutorial behavior and respondents’ vote intentions.

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Section: Electoral Choice and Prosecutorial Discretionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Judging prosecutors: Public support for prosecutorial discretion

Nelson

Samarth

2022

Research & Politics

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Law and psychology must think critically about effect sizes

Chin

2023

Discov Psychol

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This comment examines a threat to the development of law and psychology as a “public science” (i.e., one that goes beyond theory to address important issues in society), a failure to think critically about effect sizes. Effect sizes estimate the strength or magnitude of the relationship between variables and therefore can help decision makers understand whether scientific results are relevant to some legal or policy outcome. Accordingly, I suggest that those conducting and reporting law and psychology research should: (1) justify why observed effect sizes are meaningful and report them candidly and transparently, (2) scrutinize effect sizes to determine if they are plausible, and (3) plan studies such that they fit with the researchers’ inferential goals. I explore these points by way of case studies on influential law and psychology studies, such as implicit bias in the courtroom. I end with suggestions for implementing my recommendations, including a metaresearch agenda for law and psychology.

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The Electoral Connection in Court: How Sentencing Responds to Voter Preferences

Boston

Silveira

2023

J. law courts

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Do elected judges tailor criminal sentences to the electorate’s ideology? Utilizing sentencing data from North Carolina’s Superior Courts—which transitioned from statewide to local elections in 1996—we study whether judges are obliging to voters’ preferences. We find some evidence of responsiveness: judges from liberal districts were more lenient, while those from moderately conservative districts assigned harsher sentences. Judges from increasingly conservative districts did not change their sentencing patterns, which leads to lower re-election rates. These findings suggest that judges adapt their behavior to retain office, or else they are held accountable by the public.

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Judicial Selection and Criminal Punishment

Cited by 3 publications

References 86 publications

Judging prosecutors: Public support for prosecutorial discretion

Judging prosecutors: Public support for prosecutorial discretion

Law and psychology must think critically about effect sizes

The Electoral Connection in Court: How Sentencing Responds to Voter Preferences

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