Blame based on one's name? Extralegal disparities in criminal conviction and sentencing
| Autor: | Samantha Bielen, Peter Grajzl, Wim Marneffe |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
Economics and Econometrics
050208 finance Criminal record media_common.quotation_subject 05 social sciences Criminology Criminal Conviction Blame 0502 economics and business Conviction 050207 economics Business and International Management Psychology Law Sentence Criminal justice media_common Adjudication Culpability |
| Zdroj: | European Journal of Law and Economics. 51:469-521 |
| ISSN: | 1572-9990 0929-1261 |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s10657-020-09670-6 |
| Popis: | We examine whether the perceived ethnoreligious origin of defendant's name matters for criminal justice outcomes. Drawing on data on adjudication of drug offenses in Belgium, we find that defendants with a perceived Islamic name face on average three to five percentage points greater prospects of conviction than defendants with a Belgian name. The name effect is not discernible with respect to sentence severity, does not take place in custody decisions, affects primarily male defendants, magnifies the effect of prior criminal record, occurs only when the presiding judge has had limited opportunity for exposure to Islamic culture, and, importantly, obtains even for defendants who never physically appeared before the judge. Our findings are consistent with the interpretation that judges sometimes rely on defendant's name to form perceptions of defendant's ethnoreligious identity and, in turn, attributions of defendant's culpability. Any underlying judicial bias is likely implicit and not systemic in nature. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
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