The Judge, the Politician, and the Press: Newspaper Coverage and Criminal Sentencing across Electoral Systems
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
vol. 7,
no. 4, October 2015
(pp. 103-35)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
We study how media environments interact with political institutions that structure the accountability of public officials. Specifically, we quantify media influence on the behavior of US state court judges. We analyze around 1.5 million criminal sentencing decisions from 1986 to 2006 and new data on the newspaper coverage of 9,828 trial court judges. Since newspaper coverage is endogenous, we use the match between newspaper markets and judicial districts to identify effects. We find that newspaper coverage significantly increases sentence length by nonpartisan elected judges for violent crimes. For partisan elected and appointed judges, there are no significant effects. (JEL D72, H76, K41, L82)Citation
Lim, Claire S. H., James M. Snyder Jr., and David Strömberg. 2015. "The Judge, the Politician, and the Press: Newspaper Coverage and Criminal Sentencing across Electoral Systems." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 7 (4): 103-35. DOI: 10.1257/app.20140111Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D72 Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
- H76 State and Local Government: Other Expenditure Categories
- K41 Litigation Process
- L82 Entertainment; Media
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