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The Effect of Outside Temperature on Criminal Court Sentencing Decisions

Author

Listed:
  • Evans, Sally

    (University of Technology, Sydney)

  • Siminski, Peter

    (University of Technology, Sydney)

Abstract

Climate change has stimulated growing interest in the influence of temperature on cognition, mood and decision making. This paper is the first investigation of the impact of temperature on the outcomes of criminal court cases. It is motivated by Heyes and Saberian (2019, AEJ: Applied Economics), who found strong effects of temperature on judges' decisions in immigration cases, drawing on 207,000 cases. We apply similar methods to analyse 2.8 million criminal court cases in the Australian state of New South Wales from 1994 to 2019. Most of the estimates are precise zeros. We conclude that outcomes of criminal court cases (which are far more prevalent globally than immigration cases) are not influenced by fluctuations in temperature, an unsurprising but reassuring result.

Suggested Citation

  • Evans, Sally & Siminski, Peter, 2020. "The Effect of Outside Temperature on Criminal Court Sentencing Decisions," IZA Discussion Papers 13010, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13010
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lavy, Victor & Ebenstein, Avraham & Roth, Sefi, 2014. "The Impact of Short Term Exposure to Ambient Air Pollution on Cognitive Performance and Human Capital Formation," CEPR Discussion Papers 10302, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Anthony Heyes & Soodeh Saberian, 2019. "Temperature and Decisions: Evidence from 207,000 Court Cases," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(2), pages 238-265, April.
    3. Joshua Graff Zivin & Solomon M. Hsiang & Matthew Neidell, 2018. "Temperature and Human Capital in the Short and Long Run," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 5(1), pages 77-105.
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    Cited by:

    1. Marc Deschamps & Bruno Jeandidier & Julie Mansuy, 2021. "Weather and appeal court decisions in divorce cases in France," Working Papers 2021-02, CRESE.
    2. Hou, Yue & Wang, Peichun, 2020. "Unpolluted decisions: Air quality and judicial outcomes in China," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    climate; temperature; criminal courts; decision making;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K14 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Criminal Law
    • K41 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Litigation Process
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

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