Ethnic Bias in Russian Courts

• In Event: Advances in Quantitative Methods Panel 4: Quantifying Perceptions, Bias, and Crime-Cognition Links

Abstract

In this project we explore the effect of ethnicity on sentencing outcomes in Russia. Using the universe of traffic causality cases decided by Russian district courts from 2012 to 2022 (n=82,622), we find that judges are more lenient towards their co-ethnics, resulting in higher chances of case being closed without a trial and not being put in pre-trial detention. This effect, however, disappears in ethnic republics, indicating that in-group bias only holds under specific conditions. We propose a mechanism that explains bias mitigation -- education. Ethnic regions maintained titular (non-Russian) languages in the school curriculum, making their residents more likely to be exposed to non-Russian paradigm, regardless of their own ethnicity. We test this hypothesis using fine-grained data on administrative units located on the borders between regions.

Authors

• Yulia Khalikova, University of Hamburg

• Anton Kazun, HSE University (Moscow)

• Nikita Zakharov, University of Freiburg