Criminal Sentencing in Nineteenth Century Pennsylvania

Howard Bodenhorn

No 14283, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: How law is interpreted and enforced at a particular historical moment reflects contemporary social concerns and prejudices. This paper investigates the nature of criminal sentencing in mid-nineteenth-century Pennsylvania. It finds that extralegal factors, namely place of conviction and several personal characteristics, were important determinants of sentence length. The observed disparities in the mid-nineteenth century, however, are different than modern disparities. Instead of longer sentences, African Americans and recent immigrants tended to receive shorter sentences, whereas more affluent offenders received longer sentences. The results are consistent with other interpretations of the period as the "era of the common man."

JEL-codes: K14 K42 N41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-law and nep-mig
Note: DAE LE
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Published as "Criminal Sentencing in Nineteenth Century Pennsylvania." Explorations in Economic History 46:3 (July 2009), 287-298.

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