Working Papers
The role of race in the legal representation of low-income defendants (with Maya Mikdash) Conditionally Accepted at the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
Abstract: While most criminal defendants rely on assigned counsel for legal representation, little is known about the role of race in the defense of low-income defendants by court-appointed attorneys. Exploiting the quasi-random assignment of court-appointed attorneys to cases in Travis County, Texas, we test whether attorneys secure better deals for same-race defendants. Results indicate that while Black and White attorneys are similarly effective at representing White defendants, Black defendants who are represented by White rather than Black attorneys are 14-16 percent more likely to have their charges dismissed and 15-26 percent less likely to be incarcerated. Moreover, we find no evidence that having a different-race attorney increases the likelihood of re-offending in the future.
Are juries racially discriminatory? Evidence from the race-blind charging of grand jury defendants with and without racially distinctive names (with Mark Hoekstra and Meradee Tangvatcharapong) Submitted
Abstract: We implement five different tests of whether grand juries, which are drawn from a representative cross-section of the public, discriminate against Black defendants when deciding to prosecute felony cases. Three tests exploit that while jurors do not directly observe defendant race, jurors do observe the ``Blackness’’ of defendants' names. All three tests---an audit-study-style test, a traditional outcome-based test, and a test that estimates racial bias using blinded/unblinded comparisons after purging omitted variable bias---indicate juries do not discriminate based on race. Two additional tests indicate racial bias explains at most 0.3 percent of the Black-White felony conviction gap.
Measuring quid pro quo corruption in the U.S. legal system (Draft coming soon!)
More experience, more mistakes? The impact of experience on errors in jury decision-making (Draft available upon request)
Shades of justice: The disparate impact of court-appointed attorney quality (with Maya Mikdash)