Attorney Value-Added and Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System

Maya Mikdash, Mark Hoekstra and Suhyeon Oh

No 35234, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Racial disparities permeate the criminal justice system, yet indigent defense attorneys remain understudied despite representing 80% of defendants. Using quasi-randomly court-appointed attorneys in a large Texas county, we show that higher-quality attorneys are less experienced and attended lower-quality law schools. Low-quality representation disproportionately harms Black defendants: a one-standard-deviation increase in quality raises Black dismissal rates nearly twice that of Whites’ (7.1% versus 3.9%), and top-10% representation increases dismissals by 12–17% and reduces jail by 13-22% relative to Whites. Back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest if half of court-appointed attorneys were top-10% quality, the racial gap in jail sentencing would decline by 11%.

JEL-codes: H76 J15 K14 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-05
Note: LE LS
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