Race of Prosecutor and Adjudication Outcomes

• In Event: The Nexus between Public Policy and Public Administration

Abstract

The central problematic is that contact with policing and the probability of experiencing an arrest are geographically and racially concentrated. Notwithstanding, the decision to charge is completely up to the prosecuting attorney. We question whether prosecutors are more willing to bring low-quality charges against minority defendants compared to White defendants. Moreover, we question whether electoral pressures influence the likelihood that prosecutors will charge low-quality cases against minority defendants. We utilize the Collaborative Multi-Racial Post-Election Survey 2020 (CMPS), a national survey on political and social issues conducted post the 2020 presidential election, to investigate these questions. Our results show that White prosecutors are more likely to charge Black and Hispanic defendants but are significantly more likely to get convictions against Asian defendants. This suggests that White prosecutors bring more lower quality cases against Blacks and Hispanics compared to Asian defendants. We find that minority prosecutors are not significantly more likely to charge minority defendants, but Latino prosecutors are more likely to win convictions against minority defendants. When estimating the electoral effects, we find increased probabilities of charges but no corresponding increases in the likelihood of convictions. During the 2016 election cycle, White prosecutors were 14% more likely to charge a Black defendant but the increase in charges had no effect their likelihood of gaining a conviction. During the 2020 election cycle all prosecutors were associated with an increased probability of charging a Black defendant. However, Black and Latino prosecutors were significantly more likely to get convictions against Hispanic defendants in 2020. The results show that White prosecutors overcharge minorities and simultaneously gain fewer convictions than their racial peers. Our findings have serious implications for the study prosecutors, representative bureaucracy, mass incarceration, and policing.

Author

• Brandon R Davis, Tulane University