A Test of Racial Bias in Capital Sentencing

Alberto Alesina and Eliana La Ferrara

American Economic Review, 2014, vol. 104, issue 11, 3397-3433

Abstract: We collect a new dataset on capital punishment in the US and we propose a test of racial bias based upon patterns of sentence reversals. We model the courts as minimizing type I and II errors. If trial courts were unbiased, conditional on defendants race the error rate should be independent of the victims race. Instead we uncover 3 and 9 percentage points higher reversal rates in Direct Appeal and Habeas Corpus cases, respectively, against minority defendants who killed whites. The pattern for white defendants is opposite but not statistically significant. This bias is confined to Southern States.

JEL-codes: J15 K41 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.104.11.3397
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (50)

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Related works:
Working Paper: A Test of Racial Bias in Capital Sentencing (2014)
Working Paper: A Test of Racial Bias in Capital Sentencing (2011)
Working Paper: A Test of Racial Bias in Capital Sentencing (2011)
Working Paper: A Test of Racial Bias in Capital Sentencing (2011)
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