Replication data for: A Test of Racial Bias in Capital Sentencing

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Alberto Alesina; Eliana La Ferrara

Name	File Type	Size	Last Modified
AER-2013-0974-Data-Replication			10/11/2019 07:37:PM
LICENSE.txt	text/plain	14.6 KB	10/11/2019 03:37:PM

Project Citation:

Alesina, Alberto, and La Ferrara, Eliana. Replication data for: A Test of Racial Bias in Capital Sentencing. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2014. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2019-10-11. https://doi.org/10.3886/E112702V1

Project Description

Summary: We collect a new dataset on capital punishment in the US and we propose a test of racial bias based upon patterns of sentence reversals. We model the courts as minimizing type I and II errors. If trial courts were unbiased, conditional on defendants race the error rate should be independent of the victims race. Instead we uncover 3 and 9 percentage points higher reversal rates in Direct Appeal and Habeas Corpus cases, respectively, against minority defendants who killed whites. The pattern for white defendants is opposite but not statistically significant. This bias is confined to Southern States.

Scope of Project

JEL Classification:
      J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
      K41 Litigation Process
      K42 Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law

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Published Versions

V1 [2019-10-11]

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