Working Paper: NBER ID: w14283
Authors: Howard Bodenhorn
Abstract: How law is interpreted and enforced at a particular historical moment reflects contemporary social concerns and prejudices. This paper investigates the nature of criminal sentencing in mid-nineteenth-century Pennsylvania. It finds that extralegal factors, namely place of conviction and several personal characteristics, were important determinants of sentence length. The observed disparities in the mid-nineteenth century, however, are different than modern disparities. Instead of longer sentences, African Americans and recent immigrants tended to receive shorter sentences, whereas more affluent offenders received longer sentences. The results are consistent with other interpretations of the period as the "era of the common man."
Keywords: criminal sentencing; extralegal factors; nineteenth century; Pennsylvania
JEL Codes: K14; K42; N41
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| personal characteristics such as age, race, sex, and ethnicity (J71) | length of prison sentences (K14) |
| African Americans and recent immigrants (J82) | length of prison sentences (K14) |
| affluent offenders (K42) | length of prison sentences (K14) |
| prior conviction (K14) | length of prison sentences (K14) |
| western Pennsylvanians (N91) | length of prison sentences for African Americans (K14) |
| women and Irish and German immigrants (J82) | length of prison sentences (K14) |