Does the Professional Background of Judges Affect Their Decisions? Evidence from Russian Courts

• In Event: Judicial Discretion in the Sentencing Process 2

Abstract

The social background theory provides a theoretical framework for understanding how personal attributes and prior experiences influence judicial decision-making. Recent studies have empirically demonstrated how prior professional experience in prosecution offices and as public and private defenders can affect sentencing decisions (Miller & Curry, 2023; Harris & Sen, 2024).
In this study, we provide new empirical evidence on the role of professional background in judicial decisions, using publicly available Russian judicial decisions on the Criminal Code Article 105 (homicide) for 2010-2021 processed through a set of text mining techniques. Specifically, we examine the professional backgrounds of Russian judges by retrieving data from documents published by judicial qualification boards. This research not only contributes a new perspective from the Russian context but also, to our knowledge, is the first to demonstrate the impact of prior bureaucratic experience on subsequent judicial decisions. The majority of contemporary Russian judges have previous experience within the court apparatus, a result of the ongoing bureaucratization of the judiciary (V. Volkov & A. Dzmytrieva, 2015). This study contributes to the growing body of literature on the impact of professional backgrounds on judicial decision-making, offering new insights by exploring the effects of prior bureaucratic experience in this context.

Author

• Lika - Kapustina, HSE