Unequal Jury Representation and Its Consequences

Shamena Anwar, Patrick Bayer and Randi Hjalmarsson

American Economic Review: Insights, 2022, vol. 4, issue 2, 159-74

Abstract: We analyze the extent and consequences of unequal representation on juries in Harris County, Texas. We first document that residents from predominantly White and high-income neighborhoods are substantially overrepresented on juries. Using quasirandom variation in those called for jury duty each day, we next establish that Black defendants are more likely to be convicted and receive longer sentences from juries with more residents from these overrepresented neighborhoods. We estimate that equal representation would reduce Black defendants' median sentence length by 50 percent and the probability of receiving a life sentence by 67 percent. Straightforward remedies could mitigate these legally unwarranted racial disparities.

JEL-codes: J15 K41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/aeri.20210149 (application/pdf)
https://doi.org/10.3886/E147441V1 (text/html)
https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/aeri.20210149.appx (application/pdf)
https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/aeri.20210149.ds (application/zip)
Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.

Related works:
Working Paper: Unequal Jury Representation and Its Consequences (2021)
Working Paper: Unequal Jury Representation and Its Consequences (2021)
Working Paper: Unequal Jury Representation and Its Consequences (2021)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aea:aerins:v:4:y:2022:i:2:p:159-74

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.aeaweb.org/journals/subscriptions

DOI: 10.1257/aeri.20210149

Access Statistics for this article

American Economic Review: Insights is currently edited by Amy Finkelstein

More articles in American Economic Review: Insights from American Economic Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michael P. Albert ().