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Minority Salience and Criminal Justice Decisions

Author

Listed:
  • Hanemaaijer, Kyra
  • Ketel, Nadine
  • Marie, Olivier

Abstract

Decision-makers can exhibit biases when they overemphasize particularly salient features under limited attention. We exploit a sudden salience shock involving individuals of Moroccan descent to examine biases within the Dutch criminal justice system. The salience shock concerned the assassination of a defense attorney by organized crime and thus specifically targeted the justice system. Leveraging high-quality data covering arrest through appeal, we find no impact on police or prosecutor decisions but uncover a 72% increase in sentence lengths imposed by judges on salient individuals. Heterogeneity analyses suggest that judge experience with minority suspects can mitigate bias in these more discretionary decisions.

Suggested Citation

  • Hanemaaijer, Kyra & Ketel, Nadine & Marie, Olivier, 2025. "Minority Salience and Criminal Justice Decisions," CEPR Discussion Papers 20357, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20357
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    File URL: https://cepr.org/publications/DP20357
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness

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