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Judge Peer Effects in the Courthouse

Author

Listed:
  • Eren, Ozkan

    (University of California, Riverside)

  • Mocan, Naci

    (Louisiana State University)

Abstract
Although there exists a large literature analyzing whether an individual's peers have an impact on that individual's own behavior and subsequent outcomes, there is paucity of research on whether peers influence a person's decisions and judgments regarding a third party. We investigate whether consequential decisions made by judges are impacted by the gender composition of these judges' peer group. We utilize the universe of decisions on juvenile defendants in each courthouse in Louisiana between 1998 and 2012. Leveraging random assignment of cases to judges, and variations in judge peer composition generated by elections, retirements, deaths and resignations, we show that an increase in the proportion of female peers in the courthouse causes a rise in individual judges' propensity to incarcerate, and an increase in the assigned sentence length. This effect is fully driven by female judges. We also demonstrate that the impact of proportion of female peers is not a proxy for other peer characteristics such as race and age. Further analysis suggests that this behavior of female judges is unlikely to be a reflection of an effort to conform to evolving norms of judicial stringency, measured by peers' harshness in sentencing, but that it is due to the sheer exposure to female colleagues.

Suggested Citation

  • Eren, Ozkan & Mocan, Naci, 2020. "Judge Peer Effects in the Courthouse," IZA Discussion Papers 13937, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13937
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Shumway, Clayson & Wilson, Riley, 2022. "Workplace disruptions, judge caseloads, and judge decisions: Evidence from SSA judicial corps retirements," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    2. Ozkan Eren & Naci H. Mocan, 2020. "Judge Peer Effects in the Courthouse," NBER Working Papers 27713, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Bharti, Nitin Kumar & Roy, Sutanuka, 2023. "The early origins of judicial stringency in bail decisions: Evidence from early childhood exposure to Hindu-Muslim riots in India," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    peers; judicial; harshness; leniency; sentencing; judge; critical mass; juveniles; crime; court;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D9 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics
    • K4 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior

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