Abstract We estimate the likelihood of miscarriages of justice by reframing the problem in the context of misclassified binary choice models. The estimator is based on new nonparametric identification results, for which we provide methods to empirically test the key identifying assumptions and...

The paper estimates the effects of a simpler criminal procedure on case durations and the probabilities that the defendant is charged and convicted. The identification strategy exploits a policy reform in the Czech Republic as a quasi-natural experiment. The reform allowed petty offenses to be...

This article considers how judges' political and racial backgrounds intersect with offender race under the United States Sentencing Guidelines. Using variation in judges' political affiliation and race at the district level and significant changes to Guidelines enforcement, I find that...

Asset forfeiture laws allow the seizure of assets used in the commission of a crime. This paper examines the impact of such laws on deterrence by incorporating the possibility of asset forfeiture into the standard economic model of crime. When punishment is by a fine that can be optimally...

The standard model of optimal deterrence predicts that the probability of wrongful conviction of the innocent is, at the margin, as detrimental to deterrence as the probability of wrongful acquittal of guilty individuals. We extend the model in several directions: using expected utility as well...

Aiming to ensure the celerity of the Romanian criminal trial, the legislative changes of the present Code of Criminal Procedure through Law no. 202/2010 have impacted also the matter of appeals, leading to fewer degrees of jurisdiction in most criminal cases. The actual Romanian Code of Criminal...

La Reforma Procesal Penal iniciada en Chile el año 2000 entrega salidas al proceso que no existían en el antiguo ordenamiento legal. Este trabajo analiza empíricamente los determinantes de cuatro de estas nuevas salidas a las que pueden optar los fiscales: Acuerdos Reparatorios, Suspensión...

This paper analyzes trial by poison ingestion, or “sassywood,” as an institution of criminal justice in contemporary Liberia. We argue that effective criminal justice institutions must satisfy three conditions: they must be accessible to citizens, incentivize judicial administrators to...

The purpose of this study is to understand how recent legal reforms and the creation of legal offices in Argentina may improve access to justice and legally empower victims of domestic violence. The paper looks into the way the judicial system developed to provide suitable options for victims of...

Defendants should be judged on the merits of the case, not on prejudice, rumors, or evidence obtained through questionable methods. This is why criminal law of procedure regulates which information can be introduced in a trial. Two types of prohibited evidence are the criminal history of the...