(iPoster) Does Legal Counsel Reduce Sentences? Evidence from a Natural Experiment in China

• In Event: Poster Sessions: Law and Courts & Elections and Voter Behavior
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Law and Courts

Abstract

Does legal representation influence judicial outcomes in criminal cases within China? Existing scholarship remains divided on whether defense counsel can meaningfully mitigate sentencing. This study leverages the 2017 pilot program for "Full Coverage of Legal Representation in Criminal Cases"—a natural experiment that significantly expanded access to counsel—to identify the causal impact of legal defense. Utilizing a dataset of millions of criminal verdicts from 2014 to 2019, we employ a within-crime analysis to examine cases across social, economic, and political realms. This approach allows us to test for heterogeneity in the impact of legal services and to clarify whether the expansion of legal counsel substantively alters sentencing outcomes across different categories of offenses. Our findings reveal that expanded access to lawyers does not universally result in shorter sentences; rather, the lawyer effect is highly contingent upon the type of defense and the nature of the crime. These results provide nuanced insights into the strategic function of the legal process in one-party dominant regimes, suggesting that legal professionalization may serve broader state goals of procedural legitimacy rather than simply reducing punitiveness.

Authors

• Yu Zeng, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

• Zhiyuan Ding, Chinese University of Hong Kong