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The impact of jury race in criminal trials

Publication ,  Journal Article
Anwar, S; Bayer, P; Hjalmarsson, R
Published in: Quarterly Journal of Economics
May 1, 2012

This article examines the impact of jury racial composition on trial outcomes using a data set of felony trials in Florida between 2000 and 2010. We use a research design that exploits day-to-day variation in the composition of the jury pool to isolate quasi-random variation in the composition of the seated jury, finding evidence that (i) juries formed from all-white jury pools convict black defendants significantly (16 percentage points) more often than white defendants, and (ii) this gap in conviction rates is entirely eliminated when the jury pool includes at least one black member. The impact of jury race is much greater than what a simple correlation of the race of the seated jury and conviction rates would suggest. These findings imply that the application of justice is highly uneven and raise obvious concerns about the fairness of trials in jurisdictions with a small proportion of blacks in the jury pool. © The Author(s) 2012. Published by Oxford University Press, on the behalf of President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.

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Published In

Quarterly Journal of Economics

DOI

EISSN

1531-4650

ISSN

0033-5533

Publication Date

May 1, 2012

Volume

127

Issue

2

Start / End Page

1017 / 1055

Related Subject Headings

  • Economics
  • 3803 Economic theory
  • 3802 Econometrics
  • 3801 Applied economics
  • 14 Economics
 

Citation

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Anwar, S., Bayer, P., & Hjalmarsson, R. (2012). The impact of jury race in criminal trials. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 127(2), 1017–1055. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjs014
Anwar, S., P. Bayer, and R. Hjalmarsson. “The impact of jury race in criminal trials.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 127, no. 2 (May 1, 2012): 1017–55. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjs014.
Anwar S, Bayer P, Hjalmarsson R. The impact of jury race in criminal trials. Quarterly Journal of Economics. 2012 May 1;127(2):1017–55.
Anwar, S., et al. “The impact of jury race in criminal trials.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 127, no. 2, May 2012, pp. 1017–55. Scopus, doi:10.1093/qje/qjs014.
Anwar S, Bayer P, Hjalmarsson R. The impact of jury race in criminal trials. Quarterly Journal of Economics. 2012 May 1;127(2):1017–1055.
Journal cover image

Published In

Quarterly Journal of Economics

DOI

EISSN

1531-4650

ISSN

0033-5533

Publication Date

May 1, 2012

Volume

127

Issue

2

Start / End Page

1017 / 1055

Related Subject Headings

  • Economics
  • 3803 Economic theory
  • 3802 Econometrics
  • 3801 Applied economics
  • 14 Economics