Judicial Gender Match in Juvenile Courts: In-Court Sanctions and Long-Run Socioeconomic Consequences

Ozkan Eren, Randi Hjalmarsson and Orgul Ozturk

No 26035, RFBerlin Discussion Paper Series from ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin (RFBerlin)

Abstract: We exploit conditionally random assignment of case files to judges in a Southern U.S. state to study the effects of same-gender judge assignment on juvenile justice decisions and long-run socioeconomic outcomes. Using a generalized differences-in-differences design, we find evidence of same-gender gaps in sentencing decisions: relative to males, female judges are 18% less likely to incarcerate female than male defendants. A novel rank-order test confirms these findings and indicates that the results are not driven by a small subset of judges. Own-gender judicial assignment, especially for Black children, has lasting effects on socioeconomic outcomes beyond the courtroom: educational attainment increases while adult criminal involvement and welfare use decrease. Further analyses suggest that these long-run improvements are not just driven by differential incarceration decisions.

Keywords: Gender Disparities; Discrimination; Incarceration; Juvenile; Court; Long-Run Consequences; Education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I20 J16 K40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-01
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:crm:wpaper:26035

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