Clash of norms judicial leniency on defendant birthdays

We document judicial leniency on defendant birthdays across 4.8 million decisions. Our results are consistent with reference-dependent social preferences. First, French sentences are 1% fewer and around 5% shorter. Second, U.S. federal judges also round down sentences except when rounding up makes a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of economic behavior & organization Vol. 211; pp. 324 - 344
Main Authors Chen, Daniel L., Philippe, Arnaud
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier B.V 01.07.2023
Elsevier
Subjects
Bias
Criminal justice
Humanities and Social Sciences
Judicial decision-making
Judicial decision-making
Bias
Criminal justice
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Summary:We document judicial leniency on defendant birthdays across 4.8 million decisions. Our results are consistent with reference-dependent social preferences. First, French sentences are 1% fewer and around 5% shorter. Second, U.S. federal judges also round down sentences except when rounding up makes available sentencing reductions for good behavior. No leniency appears on the days before or after a defendant's birthday.
ISSN:0167-2681
1879-1751
0167-2681
DOI:10.1016/j.jebo.2023.05.002