 The internet echo chamber and the misinformation of judges: The case of judges’ perception of public support for the death penalty in ChinaZhuang Liu International Review of Law and Economics, 2022, vol. 69, issue C Abstract: In authoritarian regimes, without voting as a channel to gather public preferences, online public expression may become a major type of public opinion the government collects. However, online information can be biased and thereby mislead decision-makers. Combining data from a survey of judges and a national population survey, this article provides evidence that i) Chinese judges rely on online public opinion to infer public attitudes toward the death penalty, ii) online information is biased – online opinion is more punitive than the general public opinion, and, iii) biased online information seems to have a strong influence on judges’ perception of strong public support for the death penalty, and this may explain why Chinese scholars, lawyers, and other practitioners have persistently overestimated public punitiveness. The findings reveal a less discussed peril of the internet echo chamber: its misleading effect on the information collection process of the government, especially in autocracies. Keywords: Internet echo chamber; Misinformation; Judges; Support for death penalty; China (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:irlaec:v:69:y:2022:i:c:s0144818821000521 DOI: 10.1016/j.irle.2021.106028 Access Statistics for this article International Review of Law and Economics is currently edited by C. Ott, A. W. Katz and H-B. Schäfer More articles in International Review of Law and Economics from Elsevier |
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