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Do Judges’ Characteristics Matter? Ethnicity, Gender, and Partisanship in Texas State Trial Courts

Author

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  • Claire S.H. Lim
  • Bernardo S. Silveira
  • James M. Snyder

Abstract

We explore how government officials’ behavior varies with their ethnicity, gender, and political orientation. Specifically, we analyze criminal sentencing decisions in Texas state district courts using data on approximately half a million criminal cases from 2004 to 2013. We exploit randomized case assignments within counties and obtain precisely estimated effects of judges’ ethnicity, gender, and political orientation that are near zero, conditional on geographic factors. However, we find substantial cross-judge heterogeneity in sentencing. Exploiting a unique overlapping structure of Texas state district courts, we find no evidence that this heterogeneity is driven by judges pandering to voters.

Suggested Citation

  • Claire S.H. Lim & Bernardo S. Silveira & James M. Snyder, 2016. "Do Judges’ Characteristics Matter? Ethnicity, Gender, and Partisanship in Texas State Trial Courts," American Law and Economics Review, American Law and Economics Association, vol. 18(2), pages 302-357.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:amlawe:v:18:y:2016:i:2:p:302-357.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/aler/ahw006
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Shumway, Clayson & Wilson, Riley, 2022. "Workplace disruptions, judge caseloads, and judge decisions: Evidence from SSA judicial corps retirements," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    2. Cai, Xiqian & Chen, Shuai & Cheng, Zhengquan, 2024. "The #Metoo Movement and Judges' Gender Gap in Decisions," IZA Discussion Papers 17115, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Cai, Xiqian & Chen, Shuai & Cheng, Zhengquan, 2024. "The #MeToo Movement and Judges' Gender Gap in Decisions," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1453, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    4. Samantha Bielen & Peter Grajzl, 2021. "Prosecution or Persecution? Extraneous Events and Prosecutorial Decisions," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(4), pages 765-800, December.
    5. Christian Dippel & Michael Poyker, 2023. "Do Private Prisons Affect Criminal Sentencing?," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 66(3), pages 511-534.
    6. Elliott Ash & Claudia Marangon, 2024. "Judging disparities: Recidivism risk, image motives and in-group bias on Wisconsin criminal courts," Discussion Papers 2024-03, Nottingham Interdisciplinary Centre for Economic and Political Research (NICEP).
    7. Julia Godfrey & Kegon Teng Kok Tan & Mariyana Zapryanova, 2023. "The Effect of Parole Board Racial Composition on Prisoner Outcomes," Working Papers 2023-011, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    8. Raphael Corbi & Rafael Ferreira & Jaqueline Oliveira & Danilo Souza, 2021. "Female judges and in-group bias in labor courts," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 41(3), pages 1313-1321.
    9. Bourreau-Dubois, Cécile & Doriat-Duban, Myriam & Jeandidier, Bruno & Ray, Jean-Claude, 2020. "Does gender diversity in panels of judges matter? Evidence from French child support cases," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    10. Ash, Elliott & Asher, Sam & Bhowmick, Aditi & Bhupatiraju, Sandeep & Chen, Daniel L. & Devi, Tatanya & Goessmann, Christoph & Novosad, Paul & Siddiqi, Bilal, 2022. "Measuring Gender and Religious Bias in the Indian Judiciary," TSE Working Papers 22-1395, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    11. Chen,Daniel Li & Graham,Jimmy & Ramos Maqueda,Manuel & Singh,Shashank - DIME3, 2022. "Do Judges Favor Their Own Ethnicity and Gender ? Evidence from Kenya," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9956, The World Bank.
    12. Samantha Bielen & Peter Grajzl & Wim Marneffe, 2021. "Blame based on one's name? Extralegal disparities in criminal conviction and sentencing," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 469-521, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    H1; H7; K4;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H1 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • H7 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations
    • K4 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior

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