This document is a thesis analyzing the effect of state judicial selection systems on the ethnic, racial, and gender diversity of state court judges. It utilizes 2010 data on state judges and lawyers to examine diversity at the trial, appellate, and supreme court levels. Regression models are used to analyze the relationship between selection system and diversity while controlling for the presence of female and minority lawyers. The results do not find clear or consistent relationships between selection system and diversity. Previous literature on this topic has also produced inconsistent results. The unclear findings of this and prior studies suggest a need for longitudinal analysis of how selection systems affect diversity over time as judicial systems evolve.
This document summarizes research on the effects of multiple candidates competing in primary elections in different countries. It discusses studies on primary systems in the Netherlands, China, Latin America, and the US state of California. The findings from these studies varied - in some places like China, multiple candidates hindered election outcomes by encouraging voting based on kinship rather than qualifications, while in Latin America it increased voter participation. Overall, the document concludes that multiple candidates can affect outcomes positively or negatively depending on other cultural and societal factors in each location.
Students Were the Victims, but the School System Suffers Too | Eric Cooperblogginatl1963
The article discusses the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal from 2005 and its aftermath. It summarizes that while educators were found guilty of cheating, Atlanta students' test scores on the independent NAEP actually improved significantly in the years following, indicating real educational gains. It questions whether the cheating scandal unfairly damaged effective teaching methods and reforms in the school system.
The document discusses several key aspects of the US judicial system, including the dual court system with both federal and state courts, methods of judicial selection among states, and debates around judicial elections, independence, and review. It also examines theories of judicial decision-making, the implementation of court rulings, and the role of courts in bringing about social change through interest group litigation and activism.
In Spring of 2010 I was on a Georgetown student consulting team that worked on figuring out if it was possible to detect Medicaid fraud from #opendata in small, medium, and large states. This is the database work behind that project.
This document summarizes diversity in the judiciaries of the US, UK, and Canada based on a student paper. It finds that while all three countries advocate for diversity, it has not been fully achieved. The US and UK judiciaries remain predominantly white and male. Canada has better regional representation but lacks diversity in other areas. Barriers to diversity include a lack of confidence from women and minorities that they could be appointed, as well as potential hostility from interview panels. The document concludes that achieving diversity through the appointment of women and minorities leads to greater equality and improved decision making.
Since county judges are elected in Illinois through a partisan process, the party identification of a judge undoubtedly affects the partisan composition of the court, and as a result, its tendency to make liberal or conservative decisions. The aforementioned findings support the long time and widely held theory that Democratic judges rule more favorably to Plaintiff, and Republican judges rule more favorably to Defendant in personal injury lawsuits. Moreover, the findings from this original research point to the importance of conducting further research on the impact of partisanship on county courts, as well as tort reform in personal injury litigation more specifically.
Results from the study are found on pages 21 through 28.
Are Women Really Less Corrupt Than Men? Evidence from Sudaninventionjournals
There is the suggestion in the literature devoted to corruption that women are less corrupt than men. As will be discussed in this paper, that suggestion has not been universally supported. This paper assesses gender differences in the payment of bribes for basic public services and is based on the responses of 1,200 respondents collected by the Afrobarometer project in Sudan. The research does take place in what appears to be a strange place to conduct such a study. Sudan is a Muslim country, with very low ratings on both the HDI (Human Development Index) and the GDI (Gender Development Index), factors that would appear to mitigate women being involved in paying bribes to public servants. Corruption is measured in this study by respondent’s self-reported payment of bribes for basic public services, included obtaining documents, sanitation, medical and school services, as well as bribes paid to the police to avoid a problem. The study looked at the availability of services in the respondent’s area, and then the bribes paid in each of those areas for various services by gender. When the total number of bribers paid was calculated, the findings were surprising. There were no significant differences in the payment of bribes by gender
This document analyzes survey data from seven Arab countries to explore attitudes toward the political role of Islam. It finds:
1) There is broad support for democracy but also a deep divide on whether and how Islam should influence politics.
2) While most favor democracy, the key split is between those wanting secular democracy and those favoring a system that is democratic and incorporates Islamic principles.
3) Values of those favoring a political role for Islam are largely similar to those wanting separation of religion and politics.
This document summarizes research on the effects of multiple candidates competing in primary elections in different countries. It discusses studies on primary systems in the Netherlands, China, Latin America, and the US state of California. The findings from these studies varied - in some places like China, multiple candidates hindered election outcomes by encouraging voting based on kinship rather than qualifications, while in Latin America it increased voter participation. Overall, the document concludes that multiple candidates can affect outcomes positively or negatively depending on other cultural and societal factors in each location.
Students Were the Victims, but the School System Suffers Too | Eric Cooperblogginatl1963
The article discusses the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal from 2005 and its aftermath. It summarizes that while educators were found guilty of cheating, Atlanta students' test scores on the independent NAEP actually improved significantly in the years following, indicating real educational gains. It questions whether the cheating scandal unfairly damaged effective teaching methods and reforms in the school system.
The document discusses several key aspects of the US judicial system, including the dual court system with both federal and state courts, methods of judicial selection among states, and debates around judicial elections, independence, and review. It also examines theories of judicial decision-making, the implementation of court rulings, and the role of courts in bringing about social change through interest group litigation and activism.
In Spring of 2010 I was on a Georgetown student consulting team that worked on figuring out if it was possible to detect Medicaid fraud from #opendata in small, medium, and large states. This is the database work behind that project.
This document summarizes diversity in the judiciaries of the US, UK, and Canada based on a student paper. It finds that while all three countries advocate for diversity, it has not been fully achieved. The US and UK judiciaries remain predominantly white and male. Canada has better regional representation but lacks diversity in other areas. Barriers to diversity include a lack of confidence from women and minorities that they could be appointed, as well as potential hostility from interview panels. The document concludes that achieving diversity through the appointment of women and minorities leads to greater equality and improved decision making.
Since county judges are elected in Illinois through a partisan process, the party identification of a judge undoubtedly affects the partisan composition of the court, and as a result, its tendency to make liberal or conservative decisions. The aforementioned findings support the long time and widely held theory that Democratic judges rule more favorably to Plaintiff, and Republican judges rule more favorably to Defendant in personal injury lawsuits. Moreover, the findings from this original research point to the importance of conducting further research on the impact of partisanship on county courts, as well as tort reform in personal injury litigation more specifically.
Results from the study are found on pages 21 through 28.
Are Women Really Less Corrupt Than Men? Evidence from Sudaninventionjournals
There is the suggestion in the literature devoted to corruption that women are less corrupt than men. As will be discussed in this paper, that suggestion has not been universally supported. This paper assesses gender differences in the payment of bribes for basic public services and is based on the responses of 1,200 respondents collected by the Afrobarometer project in Sudan. The research does take place in what appears to be a strange place to conduct such a study. Sudan is a Muslim country, with very low ratings on both the HDI (Human Development Index) and the GDI (Gender Development Index), factors that would appear to mitigate women being involved in paying bribes to public servants. Corruption is measured in this study by respondent’s self-reported payment of bribes for basic public services, included obtaining documents, sanitation, medical and school services, as well as bribes paid to the police to avoid a problem. The study looked at the availability of services in the respondent’s area, and then the bribes paid in each of those areas for various services by gender. When the total number of bribers paid was calculated, the findings were surprising. There were no significant differences in the payment of bribes by gender
This document analyzes survey data from seven Arab countries to explore attitudes toward the political role of Islam. It finds:
1) There is broad support for democracy but also a deep divide on whether and how Islam should influence politics.
2) While most favor democracy, the key split is between those wanting secular democracy and those favoring a system that is democratic and incorporates Islamic principles.
3) Values of those favoring a political role for Islam are largely similar to those wanting separation of religion and politics.
11
Criminal Justice: Racial discrimination
Student’s Name:
Institutional Affiliation:
Instructor’s Name:
Course Code:
Due Date:
Racial discrimination
Abstract
When there is justice in society, every person feels satisfied with the way legal actions are carried out in the community. Unfortunately, there are several instances of racial discrimination in the United States. Most of the racial discrimination in the United States ate directed towards black people. Although everyone is required to have equal treatment in the United States, achieving zero discrimination has always been difficult.
Understanding racial discrimination in the USA is vital as it makes it easy for one to identify ways to eliminate the criminal injustices resulting from racial discrimination. This will be essential since it will help to eliminate racial discrimination in the criminal justice system.
Introduction
When there is justice in society, every person feels satisfied with the way legal actions are carried out in society. The criminal justice community is when people are not discriminated against based on their skin color. Laws applicable are carried out uniformly such that every person is treated equally. When the laws are applied equally to every individual, it increases the trust in the criminal justice system. However, when there are biases in applying the laws, the criminal justice system becomes compromised. According to Kovera (2019), there are many disparities in the criminal justice system as black people are discriminated against by police officers based on their race. As a result, black people suffer more as compared to white people when they violate similar laws.
There is a lot of disparity in the criminal justice system of the United States. Many people suffer as a result of racial discrimination in the United States. People are discriminated against a lot in the administration of the policies. According to Donnel (2017), there is racial inequality in how criminal justice is carried out in policymaking. The criminal justice system discriminates against people based on their race. For example, police officers harass black people for minor mistakes which white people are left to walk freely even after making similar mistakes. Black people suffer because of the color of their skin.
Hypothesis/Problem Statement/Purpose Statement
Racial discrimination affects the outcomes of the criminal justice system adversely. How does racial discrimination affect the judicial criminal justice system? The study aims to identify ways in which criminal justice racial discrimination is practiced in the United States. It will also provide insights on the racial discrimination cases, which are helpful in the development of policies that can be helpful in the elimination of racial discrimination in society hence promoting equality among the citizens.
Literature Review and Definitions included in the research
According to Hinton, Henderson, and Reed (2018), there is mu ...
11
Criminal Justice: Racial discrimination
Student’s Name:
Institutional Affiliation:
Instructor’s Name:
Course Code:
Due Date:
Racial discrimination
Abstract
When there is justice in society, every person feels satisfied with the way legal actions are carried out in the community. Unfortunately, there are several instances of racial discrimination in the United States. Most of the racial discrimination in the United States ate directed towards black people. Although everyone is required to have equal treatment in the United States, achieving zero discrimination has always been difficult.
Understanding racial discrimination in the USA is vital as it makes it easy for one to identify ways to eliminate the criminal injustices resulting from racial discrimination. This will be essential since it will help to eliminate racial discrimination in the criminal justice system.
Introduction
When there is justice in society, every person feels satisfied with the way legal actions are carried out in society. The criminal justice community is when people are not discriminated against based on their skin color. Laws applicable are carried out uniformly such that every person is treated equally. When the laws are applied equally to every individual, it increases the trust in the criminal justice system. However, when there are biases in applying the laws, the criminal justice system becomes compromised. According to Kovera (2019), there are many disparities in the criminal justice system as black people are discriminated against by police officers based on their race. As a result, black people suffer more as compared to white people when they violate similar laws.
There is a lot of disparity in the criminal justice system of the United States. Many people suffer as a result of racial discrimination in the United States. People are discriminated against a lot in the administration of the policies. According to Donnel (2017), there is racial inequality in how criminal justice is carried out in policymaking. The criminal justice system discriminates against people based on their race. For example, police officers harass black people for minor mistakes which white people are left to walk freely even after making similar mistakes. Black people suffer because of the color of their skin.
Hypothesis/Problem Statement/Purpose Statement
Racial discrimination affects the outcomes of the criminal justice system adversely. How does racial discrimination affect the judicial criminal justice system? The study aims to identify ways in which criminal justice racial discrimination is practiced in the United States. It will also provide insights on the racial discrimination cases, which are helpful in the development of policies that can be helpful in the elimination of racial discrimination in society hence promoting equality among the citizens.
Literature Review and Definitions included in the research
According to Hinton, Henderson, and Reed (2018), there is mu ...
This document describes a study that examines how partisan identities influence assessments of state court legitimacy. It discusses previous research showing that evaluations of federal courts are generally independent of partisanship. However, the study argues that partisans will evaluate state supreme courts based on partisan cues, such as a history of liberal or conservative rulings. An experiment is described that manipulates the ideological direction of a hypothetical state court's rulings to see how partisans react. Additionally, observational survey data is analyzed to validate the experimental results. The study finds that Democrats view courts as less legitimate when they issue conservative rulings, while Republicans view courts as less legitimate when they issue liberal rulings. This challenges past research finding evaluations of state courts are nonpartisan
This document summarizes two experiments on how information presented to voters can influence voting behavior on ballot measures regarding same-sex marriage. The first experiment found that slightly altering the wording of a ballot measure by adding four words made a significant difference in how people voted. The second experiment showed that exposure to campaign messages supporting constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage significantly changed people's attitudes towards the proposed bans. Overall, the findings suggest that the wording of ballot measures and exposure to campaign ads have the potential to strongly impact voting outcomes on civil rights issues.
Running Head Felony Disenfranchisement Laws A form of Racial Dis.docxcowinhelen
This document provides an overview of a research paper that examines whether felony disenfranchisement laws constitute a form of racial discrimination against African Americans. It begins with an abstract that outlines the paper's objectives to establish the relationship between these laws and racial discrimination, and determine if the laws should be repealed or amended. The next sections provide background on the problem formulation, research question, and operational definitions. The literature review then summarizes previous studies that have approached this issue qualitatively and quantitatively, finding that these laws disproportionately impact minority populations and may violate constitutional rights. Demographic data on incarceration rates is also presented to argue the laws have a discriminatory effect.
This document summarizes research on implicit racial bias and its impact on the criminal justice system in the United States. It begins by noting the vast racial disparities that exist at every level of the criminal justice system, with black Americans disproportionately represented in incarceration rates compared to their population. It then discusses research showing that implicit or unconscious racial bias exists independently of individuals' conscious beliefs and can influence behaviors. The document argues that the Supreme Court has failed to acknowledge implicit bias, expanding discretion of criminal justice actors in ways that allow bias to affect decisions and rejecting disparate impact claims. It maintains the Court must recognize implicit bias and its effects to fulfill its duty under the Equal Protection Clause.
This document summarizes existing research on disparities in sentencing and incarceration rates based on factors like gender, age, race, and criminal history. It then describes a study conducted in cooperation with the ACLU to assess treatment and outcomes in the Blue Earth County Court System. The study used both qualitative and quantitative methods to examine variables like defendant demographics, charges, and sentencing decisions. Results found little difference based on gender but interesting patterns emerged for race, such as a higher rate of minority defendants receiving domestic assault charges. The document concludes by recommending further research and discussing limitations.
Consequential CourtsJUDICIAL ROLES IN GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE.docxmargaretr5
Consequential Courts
JUDICIAL ROLES IN GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
Edited by
DIANA KAPISZEWSKI
University of California, Irvine
GORDON SILVERSTEIN
Yale Law School
ROBERT A. KAGAN
University of California, Berkeley
CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY PRESS
xii Contributors
Manoj Mate is Assistant Professor of Law, Whittier Law School, and Assistant
Professor of Political Science (by courtesy), Whittier College.
Amnon Reichman is Professor of Law, University ofHaifa (Israel).
Druscilla L. Scribner is Associate Professor of Political Science, University ofWis-
consin, Oshkosh.
Martin Shapiro is James W. and Isabel Coffroth Professor of Law (Emeritus),
Berkeley Law, University of California.
Alexei Trochev is Associate Professor, School of Humanities and Social Sciences,
Nazarbayev University (Kazakhstan).
Introduction
Diana Kapiszewski, Gordon Silverstein, and Robert A. Kagan*
In early nineteenth-century America, Alexis de Tocqueville (1835) famously
observed, "[Sjcarcely any political question arises...that is not resolved, sooner
or later, into a judicial question." That may have been a considerable exaggeration
at the time, but today, the dynamic Tocqueville highlighted marks many constitu-
tional democracies in which independent courts are vested with powers of judicial
review. In such countries, political actors, organizations, and ordinary individuals
who become enmeshed in political conflicts have strong incentives to frame their
desires as constitutional or statutory claims and ask courts to vindicate them.
As a result, in the early twenty-first century, courts have become versatile actors
in the governance of many constihitional democracies, and judges and justices
play multiple roles in politics and policymaking. As many observers have noted/
politically consequential courts have emerged in new democracies from Korea to
South Africa to Brazil and beyond; courts in more established democracies such as
Canada and New Zealand have been given or have assumed more power to protect
individual rights and invalidate government policies; and both the European Court
of Justice (ECJ) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) have taken on
dramatic roles in European governance.
However, the political power of courts has ebbed as well as flowed. In many
Latin American countries, judges are not blazing the way to robust constitutional
democracy in the way many hoped they might. The Hungarian Constitutional
Court, once hailed as one of the most significant new constitutional courts (Zifcak
1996), had its wings clipped less than a decade after its creation (Scheppele 1999).2
* Respectively, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of California, Irvine; Assistant
Dean, Yale Law School; Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Law, University of California,
Berkeley.
1 See, for example, Tate and Vallinder 1997, Stone Sweet 2000, Hirschl 2006.
2 After another brief period of judicial independence from 2002 to 20.
This document discusses a study on altruistic punishment in elections. The study uses a voting experiment to provide evidence that many voters are willing to vote at a cost to punish candidates who broke electoral promises, even when the voter is indifferent to the election outcome. Specifically, the experiment found that at least 14% of indifferent voters chose to vote against a candidate who broke a promise, incurring a personal cost to do so, indicating they voted based on altruistic punishment motives rather than strategic concerns. This provides quantitative evidence that altruistic punishment, the desire to sanction uncooperative behavior, can influence political voting decisions.
Lawmaking Judges Government and Private presented 2023 April 7.pptxStephen Ware
Stephen Ware became the Frank Edwards Tyler Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Kansas in 2019.
Among his scholarly interests are arbitration and judicial selection. This lecture combines those topics and explains that:
1. Judicial Lawmaking is routine, inevitable.
2. Judges’ ideologies influence the content of the law judges make.
3. Importance of judicial ideology is why we battle over the 3 methods of selecting government judges and particular selections within them.
4. A fourth method of selecting judges is contract, which selects private judges (arbitrators).
5. Judicial selections tend to reflect power under the applicable selection method.
This lecture asks "How much room for lawmaking by private judges (arbitrators) selected by contract will government lawmakers allow?", a question discussed in Ware's most-cited article "Default Rules from Mandatory Rules: Privatizing Law Through Arbitration,"
Minnesota Law Review, Vol. 83, No. 703, 1999
This lecture, including its question and answer session, may be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09k7hyN4qkk
This study examined potential biases based on sexual orientation and political orientation. Participants read one of three scenarios about a physical altercation between students where one was identified as heterosexual or homosexual. They then answered questions about fairness of the outcome. Researchers hypothesized that liberals would exhibit bias in favor of homosexuals and conservatives would exhibit bias against homosexuals. Results found no significant bias by conservatives, but indirect support for liberals displaying bias against the heterosexual student. The goal was to extend research on relationships between political orientation and biases like those involving race, to biases regarding sexual orientation.
Supplementary data slides american governmentcompiled bcherry686017
This document provides summaries for multiple slides related to American Government. Each slide summarizes a source document on a different topic, such as the founding and constitution, federalism, civil rights, congress, and public opinion. The summaries are brief, between 1-3 sentences each, and highlight the key information or findings from the source document on that topic.
Many argue that the U.S. justice system is the best in the world. Wi.docxdrennanmicah
Many argue that the U.S. justice system is the best in the world. Within that context, there are different debates about the efficacy of the death penalty.
Look at the states that still have the death penalty. What are the similarities in the states’ approaches to the death penalty? How do they justify the legality of the death penalty in their state?
What demographic populations are more likely to receive a death sentence? What do your findings suggest? Why is this of importance to a criminologist?
Research other nations that still use the death penalty as punishment. How is it applied in that nation and for what crimes?
Why have so many nations, including those of the European Union, abolished the death penalty? How the reasons for abolishing the death penalty reflective of what you have studied thus far in the course?
Need in 4 hours! APA format- 3 paragraphs to include resources
.
Pick one aspect of the criminal justice system that was discussed in.docxJUST36
Pick one aspect of the criminal justice system that was discussed in the lesson and readings: policing, courts, or corrections. Discuss one deficiency within your chosen area and how you would improve that deficiency. Why did you choose this particular deficiency?
REPLY TO MY CLASSMATE’S RESPONSE TO THE ABOVE QUESTION AND EXPLAIN WHY YOU AGREE? (A MINIMUM OF 125 WORDS EACH)
CLASSMATE’S POST
The criminal justice system within America has its pros and cons, just like all other criminological systems around the world. The downfalls of any system are deemed as deficiencies. These deficiencies are seen through all sectors of the American penal system from policing, courts, and correctional system. The issues pertaining to women and minorities that presented with the correctional system within the United States is monumental. These deficiencies that create problematic situations that affect the officers, inmates, and governmental officials or private owners of such institutions. Institutions lack hiring women and minorities, lack to provide equal opportunity of employment for female officers, and the purpose of them supervising female prisons. Therefore, the indirect result can be when the people question the system by providing evidence that the punishment systems may be in violation of human rights conventions or incapable of being equitable.
The Criminal Justice system has different influential and impressionable factors that change the process in which correctional staff are hired. If the Criminal Justice system fails to interest those people in which the system seeks to hire, then the functionality of the criminal justice system diminishes as well. Criminologist have argued for decades about how correctional officers are hired. Numerous criminologists believe that one’s physical demographics (i.e., sex, age, race, ethicality) is the greatest influence on the employment opportunities one may encounter within the Criminal Justice System of America. Minorities and women within today’s correctional system are faced with a constant uphill battle when compared to their white and male counterparts. Unfortunately, physical demographics influence the employment and career opportunities of minorities more significantly than whites within the criminal justice system. The nation’s correctional officers are predominately white males between the ages of 18 to 21 years (Ross, 2016, pp. 196).
One of the methods to combat discrimination is that of Title VII which is the 1972 amendment. This amendment indicates that it is illegal to hire and fire any individual based on their race and or sex in conjunction to any other demographic (Ross, 2016, pp. 196). The goal of creating a workforce which is vastly diverse allocates for the corrective measures to reverse the impacts of previous racial and sex-based acts of discrimination (DiMarino, 2009). The federal prisons within the United States must consider the .
Social Activism and Data Analysis Assignment.pdfstudywriters
This document provides instructions for a social activism and data analysis assignment. Students are asked to analyze data on institutional discrimination within the criminal justice system, specifically regarding minority incarceration for drug use. They must create a 1,500+ word public information piece highlighting racial and ethnic inequities in the justice system, using sources provided. The sources include national drug use surveys and FBI crime reports containing data on drug arrests by race/ethnicity. The public piece can take the form of an information booklet, position paper, website, public service announcement, PowerPoint, or speech script.
Conflict theory and racial profiling An empirical analysis.docxmaxinesmith73660
Conflict theory and racial profiling: An empirical analysis
of police traffic stop data
Matthew Petrocellia, Alex R. Piquerob, Michael R. Smithc,*
aDepartment of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, IL 62026, USA
bCenter for Studies in Criminology and Law, University of Florida, 201 Walker Hall, P.O. Box 115950,
Gainesville, FL 32611-5950, USA
cCriminal Justice Program, Washington State University, Spokane, 668 North Riverpoint Boulevard, Box B,
Spokane, WA 99202-1662, USA
Abstract
Using data collected by the Richmond, Virginia Police Department, this article applies conflict theory to police
traffic stop practices. In particular, it explores whether police traffic stop, search, and arrest practices differ
according to racial or socioeconomic factors among neighborhoods. Three principal findings emanate from this
research. First, the total number of stops by Richmond police was determined solely by the crime rate of the
neighborhood. Second, the percentage of stops that resulted in a search was determined by the percentage of
Black population. Third, when examining the percentage of stops that ended in an arrest/summons, the analyses
suggest that both the percentage of Black population and the area crime rate served to decrease the percentage of
police stops that ended in an arrest/summons. Implications for conflict theory and police decision-making are
addressed.
D 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Introduction
Conflict theory holds that law and the mecha-
nisms of its enforcement are used by dominant
groups in society to minimize threats to their interests
posed by those whom they label as dangerous,
especially minorities and the poor. Over the past
several years, racial profiling by police has become
an issue of national significance. In his first speech to
Congress on February 27, 2001, President Bush
addressed racial profiling and directed Attorney Gen-
eral John Ashcroft to develop a set of recommenda-
tions to end racial profiling by America’s police
forces. Although empirical data on racial profiling
is scarce (Government Accounting Office, 2000),
conflict theory suggests that police may indeed target
minorities when conducting traffic stops or field
interrogations.
Using data collected by the Richmond, Virginia
Police Department, this article tests the application of
conflict theory to police traffic stop practices. In
particular, it explores whether police traffic stop,
search, and arrest practices differ according to racial
or socioeconomic factors among neighborhoods (e.g.,
Smith, 1986). Previous research on conflict theory
and the police used data from multiple cities or states
to examine differences in minority treatment by the
police at the macro level. This article extends the
current research by presenting a micro-level analysis
of police practices using census tract data from a
single city. It begins with a discussion of prior
.
University of Massachusetts BostonScholarWorks at UMass Bost.docxouldparis
This document analyzes factors associated with the proposal and passage of restrictive voter access legislation in states from 2006-2011. It finds that proposal and passage are highly partisan and strategic affairs, with more restrictive laws being proposed and passed in states with larger minority populations and those that have become more competitive in recent elections. The results suggest that limiting minority voter turnout may be a central driver of these legislative developments.
11
Criminal Justice: Racial discrimination
Student’s Name:
Institutional Affiliation:
Instructor’s Name:
Course Code:
Due Date:
Racial discrimination
Abstract
When there is justice in society, every person feels satisfied with the way legal actions are carried out in the community. Unfortunately, there are several instances of racial discrimination in the United States. Most of the racial discrimination in the United States ate directed towards black people. Although everyone is required to have equal treatment in the United States, achieving zero discrimination has always been difficult.
Understanding racial discrimination in the USA is vital as it makes it easy for one to identify ways to eliminate the criminal injustices resulting from racial discrimination. This will be essential since it will help to eliminate racial discrimination in the criminal justice system.
Introduction
When there is justice in society, every person feels satisfied with the way legal actions are carried out in society. The criminal justice community is when people are not discriminated against based on their skin color. Laws applicable are carried out uniformly such that every person is treated equally. When the laws are applied equally to every individual, it increases the trust in the criminal justice system. However, when there are biases in applying the laws, the criminal justice system becomes compromised. According to Kovera (2019), there are many disparities in the criminal justice system as black people are discriminated against by police officers based on their race. As a result, black people suffer more as compared to white people when they violate similar laws.
There is a lot of disparity in the criminal justice system of the United States. Many people suffer as a result of racial discrimination in the United States. People are discriminated against a lot in the administration of the policies. According to Donnel (2017), there is racial inequality in how criminal justice is carried out in policymaking. The criminal justice system discriminates against people based on their race. For example, police officers harass black people for minor mistakes which white people are left to walk freely even after making similar mistakes. Black people suffer because of the color of their skin.
Hypothesis/Problem Statement/Purpose Statement
Racial discrimination affects the outcomes of the criminal justice system adversely. How does racial discrimination affect the judicial criminal justice system? The study aims to identify ways in which criminal justice racial discrimination is practiced in the United States. It will also provide insights on the racial discrimination cases, which are helpful in the development of policies that can be helpful in the elimination of racial discrimination in society hence promoting equality among the citizens.
Literature Review and Definitions included in the research
According to Hinton, Henderson, and Reed (2018), there is mu ...
11
Criminal Justice: Racial discrimination
Student’s Name:
Institutional Affiliation:
Instructor’s Name:
Course Code:
Due Date:
Racial discrimination
Abstract
When there is justice in society, every person feels satisfied with the way legal actions are carried out in the community. Unfortunately, there are several instances of racial discrimination in the United States. Most of the racial discrimination in the United States ate directed towards black people. Although everyone is required to have equal treatment in the United States, achieving zero discrimination has always been difficult.
Understanding racial discrimination in the USA is vital as it makes it easy for one to identify ways to eliminate the criminal injustices resulting from racial discrimination. This will be essential since it will help to eliminate racial discrimination in the criminal justice system.
Introduction
When there is justice in society, every person feels satisfied with the way legal actions are carried out in society. The criminal justice community is when people are not discriminated against based on their skin color. Laws applicable are carried out uniformly such that every person is treated equally. When the laws are applied equally to every individual, it increases the trust in the criminal justice system. However, when there are biases in applying the laws, the criminal justice system becomes compromised. According to Kovera (2019), there are many disparities in the criminal justice system as black people are discriminated against by police officers based on their race. As a result, black people suffer more as compared to white people when they violate similar laws.
There is a lot of disparity in the criminal justice system of the United States. Many people suffer as a result of racial discrimination in the United States. People are discriminated against a lot in the administration of the policies. According to Donnel (2017), there is racial inequality in how criminal justice is carried out in policymaking. The criminal justice system discriminates against people based on their race. For example, police officers harass black people for minor mistakes which white people are left to walk freely even after making similar mistakes. Black people suffer because of the color of their skin.
Hypothesis/Problem Statement/Purpose Statement
Racial discrimination affects the outcomes of the criminal justice system adversely. How does racial discrimination affect the judicial criminal justice system? The study aims to identify ways in which criminal justice racial discrimination is practiced in the United States. It will also provide insights on the racial discrimination cases, which are helpful in the development of policies that can be helpful in the elimination of racial discrimination in society hence promoting equality among the citizens.
Literature Review and Definitions included in the research
According to Hinton, Henderson, and Reed (2018), there is mu ...
This document describes a study that examines how partisan identities influence assessments of state court legitimacy. It discusses previous research showing that evaluations of federal courts are generally independent of partisanship. However, the study argues that partisans will evaluate state supreme courts based on partisan cues, such as a history of liberal or conservative rulings. An experiment is described that manipulates the ideological direction of a hypothetical state court's rulings to see how partisans react. Additionally, observational survey data is analyzed to validate the experimental results. The study finds that Democrats view courts as less legitimate when they issue conservative rulings, while Republicans view courts as less legitimate when they issue liberal rulings. This challenges past research finding evaluations of state courts are nonpartisan
This document summarizes two experiments on how information presented to voters can influence voting behavior on ballot measures regarding same-sex marriage. The first experiment found that slightly altering the wording of a ballot measure by adding four words made a significant difference in how people voted. The second experiment showed that exposure to campaign messages supporting constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage significantly changed people's attitudes towards the proposed bans. Overall, the findings suggest that the wording of ballot measures and exposure to campaign ads have the potential to strongly impact voting outcomes on civil rights issues.
Running Head Felony Disenfranchisement Laws A form of Racial Dis.docxcowinhelen
This document provides an overview of a research paper that examines whether felony disenfranchisement laws constitute a form of racial discrimination against African Americans. It begins with an abstract that outlines the paper's objectives to establish the relationship between these laws and racial discrimination, and determine if the laws should be repealed or amended. The next sections provide background on the problem formulation, research question, and operational definitions. The literature review then summarizes previous studies that have approached this issue qualitatively and quantitatively, finding that these laws disproportionately impact minority populations and may violate constitutional rights. Demographic data on incarceration rates is also presented to argue the laws have a discriminatory effect.
This document summarizes research on implicit racial bias and its impact on the criminal justice system in the United States. It begins by noting the vast racial disparities that exist at every level of the criminal justice system, with black Americans disproportionately represented in incarceration rates compared to their population. It then discusses research showing that implicit or unconscious racial bias exists independently of individuals' conscious beliefs and can influence behaviors. The document argues that the Supreme Court has failed to acknowledge implicit bias, expanding discretion of criminal justice actors in ways that allow bias to affect decisions and rejecting disparate impact claims. It maintains the Court must recognize implicit bias and its effects to fulfill its duty under the Equal Protection Clause.
This document summarizes existing research on disparities in sentencing and incarceration rates based on factors like gender, age, race, and criminal history. It then describes a study conducted in cooperation with the ACLU to assess treatment and outcomes in the Blue Earth County Court System. The study used both qualitative and quantitative methods to examine variables like defendant demographics, charges, and sentencing decisions. Results found little difference based on gender but interesting patterns emerged for race, such as a higher rate of minority defendants receiving domestic assault charges. The document concludes by recommending further research and discussing limitations.
Consequential CourtsJUDICIAL ROLES IN GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE.docxmargaretr5
Consequential Courts
JUDICIAL ROLES IN GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
Edited by
DIANA KAPISZEWSKI
University of California, Irvine
GORDON SILVERSTEIN
Yale Law School
ROBERT A. KAGAN
University of California, Berkeley
CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY PRESS
xii Contributors
Manoj Mate is Assistant Professor of Law, Whittier Law School, and Assistant
Professor of Political Science (by courtesy), Whittier College.
Amnon Reichman is Professor of Law, University ofHaifa (Israel).
Druscilla L. Scribner is Associate Professor of Political Science, University ofWis-
consin, Oshkosh.
Martin Shapiro is James W. and Isabel Coffroth Professor of Law (Emeritus),
Berkeley Law, University of California.
Alexei Trochev is Associate Professor, School of Humanities and Social Sciences,
Nazarbayev University (Kazakhstan).
Introduction
Diana Kapiszewski, Gordon Silverstein, and Robert A. Kagan*
In early nineteenth-century America, Alexis de Tocqueville (1835) famously
observed, "[Sjcarcely any political question arises...that is not resolved, sooner
or later, into a judicial question." That may have been a considerable exaggeration
at the time, but today, the dynamic Tocqueville highlighted marks many constitu-
tional democracies in which independent courts are vested with powers of judicial
review. In such countries, political actors, organizations, and ordinary individuals
who become enmeshed in political conflicts have strong incentives to frame their
desires as constitutional or statutory claims and ask courts to vindicate them.
As a result, in the early twenty-first century, courts have become versatile actors
in the governance of many constihitional democracies, and judges and justices
play multiple roles in politics and policymaking. As many observers have noted/
politically consequential courts have emerged in new democracies from Korea to
South Africa to Brazil and beyond; courts in more established democracies such as
Canada and New Zealand have been given or have assumed more power to protect
individual rights and invalidate government policies; and both the European Court
of Justice (ECJ) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) have taken on
dramatic roles in European governance.
However, the political power of courts has ebbed as well as flowed. In many
Latin American countries, judges are not blazing the way to robust constitutional
democracy in the way many hoped they might. The Hungarian Constitutional
Court, once hailed as one of the most significant new constitutional courts (Zifcak
1996), had its wings clipped less than a decade after its creation (Scheppele 1999).2
* Respectively, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of California, Irvine; Assistant
Dean, Yale Law School; Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Law, University of California,
Berkeley.
1 See, for example, Tate and Vallinder 1997, Stone Sweet 2000, Hirschl 2006.
2 After another brief period of judicial independence from 2002 to 20.
This document discusses a study on altruistic punishment in elections. The study uses a voting experiment to provide evidence that many voters are willing to vote at a cost to punish candidates who broke electoral promises, even when the voter is indifferent to the election outcome. Specifically, the experiment found that at least 14% of indifferent voters chose to vote against a candidate who broke a promise, incurring a personal cost to do so, indicating they voted based on altruistic punishment motives rather than strategic concerns. This provides quantitative evidence that altruistic punishment, the desire to sanction uncooperative behavior, can influence political voting decisions.
Lawmaking Judges Government and Private presented 2023 April 7.pptxStephen Ware
Stephen Ware became the Frank Edwards Tyler Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Kansas in 2019.
Among his scholarly interests are arbitration and judicial selection. This lecture combines those topics and explains that:
1. Judicial Lawmaking is routine, inevitable.
2. Judges’ ideologies influence the content of the law judges make.
3. Importance of judicial ideology is why we battle over the 3 methods of selecting government judges and particular selections within them.
4. A fourth method of selecting judges is contract, which selects private judges (arbitrators).
5. Judicial selections tend to reflect power under the applicable selection method.
This lecture asks "How much room for lawmaking by private judges (arbitrators) selected by contract will government lawmakers allow?", a question discussed in Ware's most-cited article "Default Rules from Mandatory Rules: Privatizing Law Through Arbitration,"
Minnesota Law Review, Vol. 83, No. 703, 1999
This lecture, including its question and answer session, may be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09k7hyN4qkk
This study examined potential biases based on sexual orientation and political orientation. Participants read one of three scenarios about a physical altercation between students where one was identified as heterosexual or homosexual. They then answered questions about fairness of the outcome. Researchers hypothesized that liberals would exhibit bias in favor of homosexuals and conservatives would exhibit bias against homosexuals. Results found no significant bias by conservatives, but indirect support for liberals displaying bias against the heterosexual student. The goal was to extend research on relationships between political orientation and biases like those involving race, to biases regarding sexual orientation.
Supplementary data slides american governmentcompiled bcherry686017
This document provides summaries for multiple slides related to American Government. Each slide summarizes a source document on a different topic, such as the founding and constitution, federalism, civil rights, congress, and public opinion. The summaries are brief, between 1-3 sentences each, and highlight the key information or findings from the source document on that topic.
Many argue that the U.S. justice system is the best in the world. Wi.docxdrennanmicah
Many argue that the U.S. justice system is the best in the world. Within that context, there are different debates about the efficacy of the death penalty.
Look at the states that still have the death penalty. What are the similarities in the states’ approaches to the death penalty? How do they justify the legality of the death penalty in their state?
What demographic populations are more likely to receive a death sentence? What do your findings suggest? Why is this of importance to a criminologist?
Research other nations that still use the death penalty as punishment. How is it applied in that nation and for what crimes?
Why have so many nations, including those of the European Union, abolished the death penalty? How the reasons for abolishing the death penalty reflective of what you have studied thus far in the course?
Need in 4 hours! APA format- 3 paragraphs to include resources
.
Pick one aspect of the criminal justice system that was discussed in.docxJUST36
Pick one aspect of the criminal justice system that was discussed in the lesson and readings: policing, courts, or corrections. Discuss one deficiency within your chosen area and how you would improve that deficiency. Why did you choose this particular deficiency?
REPLY TO MY CLASSMATE’S RESPONSE TO THE ABOVE QUESTION AND EXPLAIN WHY YOU AGREE? (A MINIMUM OF 125 WORDS EACH)
CLASSMATE’S POST
The criminal justice system within America has its pros and cons, just like all other criminological systems around the world. The downfalls of any system are deemed as deficiencies. These deficiencies are seen through all sectors of the American penal system from policing, courts, and correctional system. The issues pertaining to women and minorities that presented with the correctional system within the United States is monumental. These deficiencies that create problematic situations that affect the officers, inmates, and governmental officials or private owners of such institutions. Institutions lack hiring women and minorities, lack to provide equal opportunity of employment for female officers, and the purpose of them supervising female prisons. Therefore, the indirect result can be when the people question the system by providing evidence that the punishment systems may be in violation of human rights conventions or incapable of being equitable.
The Criminal Justice system has different influential and impressionable factors that change the process in which correctional staff are hired. If the Criminal Justice system fails to interest those people in which the system seeks to hire, then the functionality of the criminal justice system diminishes as well. Criminologist have argued for decades about how correctional officers are hired. Numerous criminologists believe that one’s physical demographics (i.e., sex, age, race, ethicality) is the greatest influence on the employment opportunities one may encounter within the Criminal Justice System of America. Minorities and women within today’s correctional system are faced with a constant uphill battle when compared to their white and male counterparts. Unfortunately, physical demographics influence the employment and career opportunities of minorities more significantly than whites within the criminal justice system. The nation’s correctional officers are predominately white males between the ages of 18 to 21 years (Ross, 2016, pp. 196).
One of the methods to combat discrimination is that of Title VII which is the 1972 amendment. This amendment indicates that it is illegal to hire and fire any individual based on their race and or sex in conjunction to any other demographic (Ross, 2016, pp. 196). The goal of creating a workforce which is vastly diverse allocates for the corrective measures to reverse the impacts of previous racial and sex-based acts of discrimination (DiMarino, 2009). The federal prisons within the United States must consider the .
Social Activism and Data Analysis Assignment.pdfstudywriters
This document provides instructions for a social activism and data analysis assignment. Students are asked to analyze data on institutional discrimination within the criminal justice system, specifically regarding minority incarceration for drug use. They must create a 1,500+ word public information piece highlighting racial and ethnic inequities in the justice system, using sources provided. The sources include national drug use surveys and FBI crime reports containing data on drug arrests by race/ethnicity. The public piece can take the form of an information booklet, position paper, website, public service announcement, PowerPoint, or speech script.
Conflict theory and racial profiling An empirical analysis.docxmaxinesmith73660
Conflict theory and racial profiling: An empirical analysis
of police traffic stop data
Matthew Petrocellia, Alex R. Piquerob, Michael R. Smithc,*
aDepartment of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, IL 62026, USA
bCenter for Studies in Criminology and Law, University of Florida, 201 Walker Hall, P.O. Box 115950,
Gainesville, FL 32611-5950, USA
cCriminal Justice Program, Washington State University, Spokane, 668 North Riverpoint Boulevard, Box B,
Spokane, WA 99202-1662, USA
Abstract
Using data collected by the Richmond, Virginia Police Department, this article applies conflict theory to police
traffic stop practices. In particular, it explores whether police traffic stop, search, and arrest practices differ
according to racial or socioeconomic factors among neighborhoods. Three principal findings emanate from this
research. First, the total number of stops by Richmond police was determined solely by the crime rate of the
neighborhood. Second, the percentage of stops that resulted in a search was determined by the percentage of
Black population. Third, when examining the percentage of stops that ended in an arrest/summons, the analyses
suggest that both the percentage of Black population and the area crime rate served to decrease the percentage of
police stops that ended in an arrest/summons. Implications for conflict theory and police decision-making are
addressed.
D 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Introduction
Conflict theory holds that law and the mecha-
nisms of its enforcement are used by dominant
groups in society to minimize threats to their interests
posed by those whom they label as dangerous,
especially minorities and the poor. Over the past
several years, racial profiling by police has become
an issue of national significance. In his first speech to
Congress on February 27, 2001, President Bush
addressed racial profiling and directed Attorney Gen-
eral John Ashcroft to develop a set of recommenda-
tions to end racial profiling by America’s police
forces. Although empirical data on racial profiling
is scarce (Government Accounting Office, 2000),
conflict theory suggests that police may indeed target
minorities when conducting traffic stops or field
interrogations.
Using data collected by the Richmond, Virginia
Police Department, this article tests the application of
conflict theory to police traffic stop practices. In
particular, it explores whether police traffic stop,
search, and arrest practices differ according to racial
or socioeconomic factors among neighborhoods (e.g.,
Smith, 1986). Previous research on conflict theory
and the police used data from multiple cities or states
to examine differences in minority treatment by the
police at the macro level. This article extends the
current research by presenting a micro-level analysis
of police practices using census tract data from a
single city. It begins with a discussion of prior
.
University of Massachusetts BostonScholarWorks at UMass Bost.docxouldparis
This document analyzes factors associated with the proposal and passage of restrictive voter access legislation in states from 2006-2011. It finds that proposal and passage are highly partisan and strategic affairs, with more restrictive laws being proposed and passed in states with larger minority populations and those that have become more competitive in recent elections. The results suggest that limiting minority voter turnout may be a central driver of these legislative developments.
University of Massachusetts BostonScholarWorks at UMass Bost.docx
All final
1. STATE JUDICIAL SELECTION SYSTEM AND THE ETHNIC, RACIAL, AND GENDER
DIVERSITY OF THE BENCH
Helen Bass
Honors Undergraduate Thesis, Economics
April 29, 2016
2. Bass, p. 1
STATE JUDICIAL SELECTION SYSTEM AND THE ETHNIC, RACIAL, AND GENDER
DIVERSITY OF THE BENCH
ABSTRACT
This paper utilizes data from 2010 to investigate the effect of judicial selection system on
the diversity of state court judges at the trial, appellate, and supreme court level. That the
judicial population represent the voting population has long been considered a necessary goal,
and many have claimed that particular systems favor nontraditional candidates more than others.
Similar to previous work in this area, the presence of female and minority attorneys seems the
single largest factor determining the diversity of state judges at all three court levels. Building
onto past work, a state’s exposure to a particular selection system, measured in years, is
investigated. However, the addition of this measure confounds any clear indications of
differential effects of particular selection systems. The unclear results of this study, in
conjunction with the results of previous works, call for a longitudinal look at the effect of
selection system on judicial diversity, utilizing data collected over time. A study of this nature
could take advantage of the data collected regarding judicial diversity from as far back as 1985.
3. Bass, p. 2
INTRODUCTION
The selection of state judges takes on five main forms in the US—each state decides on a
judicial selection system for each level of court. In partisan election systems, judges are selected
by popular vote with their political party listed on the ballot. In nonpartisan election systems,
judges’ political parties are prohibited from the ballot. In executive appointment systems, the
governor holds the authority to appointment judges, though their appointments often must be
approved by the legislature. In legislative appointment systems, the legislature holds both
appointment and approval power. In merit selection systems, an informed and balanced
committee—often composed of attorneys, retired justices, public officials, and lay persons—
submits nominations, the governor appoints from the nominations submitted, and the legislature
approves the appointment.
The efficacy of different selection systems has long been a topic of debate. At the time of
their founding, most states utilized executive appointment systems and lifetime judicial terms.
With the Jacksonian era came the inclination that the “will of the people” play a more deciding
role in government, and many states adopted partisan election systems. Many of these states
would later shift to non-partisan election as fear grew that party influences were dominating the
public sphere. In the early nineteenth century, momentum for an informed and unbiased judicial
selection method led states to consider merit selection—a system first adopted by Missouri in
1940 (Reddick 2008).
Movements for various judicial selection systems have been accompanied by challenging
questions for state judiciaries. Though election systems capitalize on democratic ideals, there are
doubts that the public is well-informed of judicial candidates or even current state justices. A
4. Bass, p. 3
2003 survey of public perceptions of the judiciary concluded that the courts “do not appear to
weigh heavily on the public mind (Rott, Hansen, Mott & Grimes 2003).” Merit selection
certainly provides for informed decision-making, but many argue that political and legal elites
hold too much power in this system (Hurwitz & Lanier 2001). This theme—balancing public
input with informed and fair selection—has been recurrent in the judicial selection debate and
salient in subsidiary discussions.
More recently, the ethnic, racial, and gender diversity of judges has entered the academic
and legal realm as a necessary consideration for a fair and balanced judiciary. Those in favor of
merit selection have suggested that informed committees would be more likely to favor non-
traditional candidates and that the political connections required for campaigning in election
systems would eliminate their chances besides. Those in favor of election systems have argued
that merit selection committees, almost always partially comprised of legal elites, would stick to
traditional candidates and, in doing so, maintain the status quo (as cited in Hurwitz & Lanier
2001).
Following a statistical report released by the Fund for Modern Courts and an early series
of papers authored by Nicholas Alozie beginning in the 1980’s, not a small amount of academic
literature has empirically investigated the connection between selection system and judicial
diversity (Fund for Modern Courts 1985, Alozie 1988). Alozie addressed the diversity of the
bench by creating separate analyses for female, African American or Black, and Hispanic or
Latino state judges based on a state’s judicial candidate pool, demographic of voters, and judicial
selection system. These analyses were followed by similar work utilizing more recent data and
featuring additional controls such as executive ideology, public ideology, level of court (trial,
5. Bass, p. 4
appellate, or supreme), and size of court (number of seats at each level) (Hurwitz & Lanier 2003,
Reddick et. al 2009, Williams 2007).
The results of these studies have afforded some clarity to the judicial selection debate,
though the effect of selection system on diversity remains uncertain. Alozie’s papers from the
late 1980’s found that judicial selection was not significantly related to the presence of female or
African American or Black judges on state courts, though there was some evidence that partisan
election systems benefited Hispanic candidates in areas with a high population of Hispanic
voters. A 2001 paper released by the American Judicature Society found that between 1985 and
1999, “selection method does not seem to be associated with the diversity characteristics of those
selected for the bench (Hurwitz & Lanier 2001).” A 2007 paper released in Social Science
Quarterly suggested that “nonpartisan elections increase women’s representation on trial courts”
and that merit selection slightly repressed female representation at the appellate level (Williams
2007). However, another paper released by the American Judicature Society in 2009 found that
a disproportionate quantity of minority and female judges were appointed via merit selection.
The inconsistent results of past literature have left room for future work investigating the
connection between diversity of the bench and judicial selection system. The regression analysis
in this study takes a form similar to that of Nicholas Alozie’s 1988 paper, “Black Representation
on State Judiciaries.” In his paper, black representation on state courts is regressed on state
selection system in an OLS model, controlling for black lawyers and voters by state. In a series
of companion papers, Alozie repeats this model for female and Hispanic judges. Though some
of the literature following the publication of Alozie’s papers has grouped all minority judges
together, there is evidence that different minority groups achieve judicial office in slightly
different ways (Alozie 1990). In keeping with Alozie’s work, I separate analyses based on
6. Bass, p. 5
ethnic, racial, and gender characteristics of judges. I detract from Alozie’s model by dropping
the control variable for proportion of minority voters for each state from the regressions. The
high multicollinearity between proportion of minority lawyers and proportion of minority voters
by state could have potentially disrupted the results of the models. I add to his work in four
ways, the first of which being a simple update using data from 2010.
Next, I test for court level-specific effects by breaking down each state observation for
the different levels of court: trial, appellate, and supreme. Empirical analysis has found that the
effect of selection methods varies across the different level of courts (Williams 2007, Reddick et.
al 2010). However, it is not uncommon for all judges of one state to be grouped together when
studying the effect of selection system and diversity of the bench.
In order to examine the effect of a selection method over time, I include an ‘exposure’
variable which controls for the amount of time, measured in years, passed following the adoption
of a particular selection system. While some courts have utilized the same selection system for
over a century, some have only recently adopted a new selection mechanism. The adoption of a
particular selection mechanism could have important institutional effects over time (i.e.
campaign mechanisms).
Finally, I use a structural estimation model (SEM) to examine the inter-court effects of
diversity and selection method. It seems common knowledge in the legal field that “trial courts
often serve as a training ground for appellate seats (Williams 2007),” making the pool of trial
court judges relevant to the diversity of appellate judges. The SEM tables in this paper utilize
female and minority lawyers as a candidate pool for the trial court, and trial judges as a candidate
pool for the appellate level.
7. Bass, p. 6
DATA & METHODS
Data for this study came from two sources, and the data from both sources was collected
for the year 2010. Data for minority and female state judges, state selection system, and history
of state selection system reforms were taken from the National Center for State Court’s Judicial
Selection in the States website.1
Data for female and minority lawyers was taken from the US
Census Bureau.2
Using this data, I present four sections of regressions, separated by judge demographic.
These four demographic sections are separate analyses specific to all minority judges, African
American or Black judges, Hispanic or Latino judges, and female judges. The dependent
variable in each regression is the proportion of minority, African American or Black, Hispanic or
Latino, or female judges in relation to all judges by state and specific court level. For example,
the mean of the dependent variable in the female-specific regressions for trial courts is equal to
.225. This simply means that, on average, female trial judges make up 22.5% of all trial judges
on state courts.
This dependent variable is regressed on the type of selection system specific to each state
and court level. Because so few states use either legislative or executive appointment, I combine
the two selection systems into a single ‘elite appointment’ category, reducing the categories of
1
Data for female/minority state judges, selection system, and exposure to selection system by
state and level of court can be found at the National Center for State Court’s “Judicial Selection
in the States” website under the sections for “Diversity of the Bench”, “Methods of Judicial
Selection”, and “Altering Selection Methods”, respectively. It is important to note that some
judges are selected by informal, interim mechanisms which may be different than the official
selection method of the given state and court level. No estimate was found for the number or
proportion of judges selected informally. This introduces error into the regressions in this study.
2
Data was taken from the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey using 2006-2010
5-year estimates. For black lawyers, individuals that cited “Black or African American Alone” as
well as individuals that cited “White and Black or African American” were included in the data.
8. Bass, p. 7
selection system to four (Hurwitz & Lanier 2008). These four selection system categories are
represented in the regressions as dichotomous variables. A state with a partisan election system
at the trial level will have an observation of ‘1’ for the partisan election dummy variable at the
trial level, and an observation of ‘0’ for the other selection system variables at that level. In
order to create the “exposure” variable, I take the log of the number of years since a system has
been adopted and multiply it by the selection system dummy variables.
I include one control variable in the regressions. This is a continuous variable for the
proportion of female (FL), African American or Black (BL), Hispanic or Latino (HL), or
minority lawyers among all lawyers, by state (ML).3
This control variable has been the most
prominent determinant of judicial diversity in previous literature (Alozie 1988, 1990; Hurwitz &
Lanier 2003; Reddick et. al 2009;Williams 2007).
I evaluate each of the four demographic groups with two separate analyses: one set of
Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regressions and two structural equation models (SEM). I begin
each OLS table by regressing the proportion of female/minority judges on proportion
female/minority lawyers alone. In the second column of the table, I include the selection system
dummies (without the exposure-selection variable) into the regression. In the third column, I
regress proportion female/minority judges on female/minority lawyers, selection system, and the
exposure-selection variables. The partisan election dummy variable was omitted to avoid
multicollinearity. Below is an example of the OLS regressions for female trial judges:
(1) FJti = b0 + b1FLi + u
(2) FJti = b0 + b1FLi + b2NEti + b3MSti + b4Eti + u
3
A complete list of variable symbols can be found in Appendix I at the end of the paper. Appendix II contains the
regression equations, and Appendix III contains the results of the regressions.
9. Bass, p. 8
(3) FJti = b0 + b1FLi + b2NEti + b3MSti + b4Eti + b5EXNEti + b6EXMSti + b7EXEti +
b8EXPETi + u
Following the OLS table for each level of court, I include the results of a two-step SEM
table. The dependent variable of the first level of this model is the proportion of female/minority
judges among all judges at the trial level, controlling for female/minority lawyers. The
dependent variable in the second level of this model is the proportion of female/minority judges
at the appellate level, including female/minority trial judges and minority voters as independent
variables but removing female/minority lawyers from the regression. I execute this model
twice—once with the exposure-selection variables and once without. The SEM for female
judges is as follows:
(I) a. FJti = b0 + b1FLi + b2NEti + b3MSti + b4Eti + u
b. FJai = b0 + b1FJti + b2NEai + b3MSai + b4Eai + u
(II) a.FJti =b0 +b1FLi +b2NEti +b3MSti +b4Eti +b5EXNEti +b6EXMSti +b7EXEti +b8EXPETi +u
b. FJai = b0 + b0FJti + b0NEai + b0MSai + b0Eai + b0EXNEai + b0EXMSai + b0EXEai + u
Judicial representation and selection system are specific not only to the state but the level
of court as well. Thus, each state has three potential observation points for the year 2010: at the
trial, appellate, and supreme court levels. However, some states do not have all three levels of
court, most often lacking an appellate court system. In some states, judicial selection system for
a single court level changes by county or city. In each case, the observation was dropped. This
brought the total number of observations to 47 at the trial level, 39 at the appellate level, and 48
at the supreme court level. When the exposure variable was introduced, uncertain information
on state court reform dropped the number of observations to 46 at the trial level, 37 at the
10. Bass, p. 9
appellate level, and 47 at the supreme court level. The SEM table suffered from inconsistencies
in the data set, bringing the total number of observations from 34 to 36 for those models.
RESULTS
The first set of OLS regressions (Table 1) investigates the presence of female justices at
each level of state court. In these regressions and in those following, the dummy variable for
partisan election is dropped for multicollinearity. At the trial level (FJt), only the variable for the
proportion of female lawyers in a state (FL) remains positive and significant throughout all three
regressions. Further, the coefficient for this variable hovers around 1.0, meaning that the model
would predict a one percent increase in FL in a state to translate into a one percent increase in
FJt. Without including the exposure variable in the regression (Column (2)), the coefficient for
elite appointment is both negative and statistically significant, predicting an eleven percent drop
in FJt for states with elite appointment, relative to partisan election. The coefficients of the
remaining selection methods are both positive, though relatively small and statistically
insignificant. However, once the exposure variables are included in the regression (Column (3)),
the elite selection variable drops in significance. Besides FL, only one variable in Column (3)
holds statistical significance—the exposure variable for nonpartisan election is both positive and
significant.
At the appellate level, the coefficient for FL is neither positive nor significant in any of
the three regressions. This is consistent with the hypotheses that the factors affecting female
representation at the trial level differ from the factors affecting representation at the appellate
level (FJa) (Williams 2007). No other variables quite reach statistical significance in any of the
11. Bass, p. 10
columns. However, the coefficient for merit selection is quite large, predicting an eleven percent
decrease in FJa in states with merit selection at the appellate level, given that the average FJa
falls at thirty percent. With a p-value of .105 and only thirty-seven available observations, the
coefficient certainly begs for further investigation.
Though the coefficient for proportion of FL is positive throughout all three supreme court
OLS regressions (FJs), it comes close to approaching statistical significance only in Column (3)
(p-value of .156). None of the coefficients are significant in Columns (1) or (2), but the dummy
variable for merit selection is positive and significant at the ten percent level in Column (3),
where the exposure variables are included. However, it should be noted that the R-squared value
drops substantially in both the appellate and supreme court OLS regressions in comparison to the
trial court section.
The SEM table (Part I), which examines the inter-court effects on female representation
at the trial and appellate level, mimics much of the results from the separate OLS regressions.
With and without the exposure variable included, the proportion of female lawyers in a state is
positively correlated with the proportion of female trial judges, though the effect is larger in
magnitude in the SEM table. In Part I, the elite appointment dummy variable is negative and
significant at the trial level, and the merit selection dummy variable is negative and significant at
the appellate level. In Part II, the exposure-nonpartisan election variable is positive and
significant (at the ten percent level) for trial courts, but no variable is significant at the appellate
level. These results mimic Columns (2) and (3) for the trial and appellate OLS models. The
SEM table adds to the OLS models by examining the effect of the proportion of female judges at
the trial level on the proportion of female judges at the appellate level. In both Part I and Part II,
12. Bass, p. 11
this effect is not statistically significant. The R-squared values of the SEM table are higher than
those of the OLS models at the trial and appellate levels.
In the trial (BJt), appellate (BJa), and supreme court (BJs) OLS analyses for African
American or Black judges, only the proportion of black lawyers (BL) shows a statistically
significant relationship to the proportion of black judges. The relationship between these
variables is larger than a one-to-one ratio. For a one percent increase in BL, the model
approximately predicts a 1.4 percent increase in BJt. This ratio is even higher at the appellate
and supreme court level. However, none of the coefficients for the selection dummy variables or
the exposure-selection variables show significance.
Similar to the OLS regressions, Part I and II of the SEM tables showed a positive and
statistically significant relationship between BL and BJt. Unlike the results of the SEM table for
female justices, BJt was positively and significantly correlated with BJa. In Part II, the merit
selection exposure variable was negative and significant at the ten percent level, but no other
selection system variables were significant in either Part I or II.
The proportion of Hispanic or Latino lawyers (HL) by state remained positive and
significant throughout the OLS regressions for Hispanic or Latino judges (HJt, HJa, and HJs).
This variable shows a particularly high coefficient at the supreme court level, predicting 2.24
percent increase in judicial representation for a one percent increase in HL. In Column (3) of the
appellate level regressions (HJa), the nonpartisan election, merit selection, and elite appointment
dummy variables all have negative and statistically significant coefficients relative to partisan
election, but so is the exposure variable for partisan election negative and significant. These
conflicting results seem to suggest that, overall, the selection-related variables do not have
13. Bass, p. 12
coefficients significantly different from zero. However, an F-test failed to show that, held in
conjunction, the coefficients were not significantly different from zero. At the supreme court
level (HJs), only the HL variable holds significance.
In Part I and Part II of the SEM table, HL is positively and significantly correlated with
HJt, and HJt with HJa. In Part I, none of the selection system dummy variables are significant.
At the trial level and with the exposure-selection variables included in the regression, the
nonpartisan election, merit selection, and elite appointment dummy variables all show positive
and significant coefficients relative to partisan election, though the exposure variable for partisan
election is positive and significant as well. The appellate section of Part II shows negative and
significant coefficients on the nonpartisan election, merit selection, and elite appointment
dummy variables relative to partisan election, but the exposure variable for partisan election is
negative as well. These conflicting results seem to suggest that, overall, the selection-related
variables do not have coefficients significantly different from zero. However, an F-test failed to
show that, held in conjunction, the coefficients were not significantly different from zero.
In the minority OLS regressions, the variable for proportion of minority lawyers (ML)
maintains a positive and significant coefficient through all three court levels. In Column (2) of
the trial level regressions (MJt), the merit selection dummy variable is both positive and
significant. This variable maintains its sign and significance in Column (3), but the dummy
variables for nonpartisan election and elite appointment as well as the exposure variable for
partisan election become positive and significant as well. These conflicting results seem to
suggest that, overall, the selection-related variables do not have coefficients significantly
different from zero. However, an F-test failed to show that, held in conjunction, the coefficients
were not significantly different from zero. This same issue is apparent in Column (3) of the
14. Bass, p. 13
appellate regression (MJa). In the supreme court Column (2) regressions (MJs), the nonpartisan
election, merit selection, and elite selection variables are all negative relative to partisan election.
However, these coefficients switch signs and drop in significance when the exposure variables
are included in Column (3), and the exposure variable for partisan election is positive.
Throughout the SEM table for minority judges, ML is positively and significantly
correlated with MJt, and MJt with MJa. In Part I, only the merit selection dummy variable at the
trial level holds significance outside of the ML and MJt variables. At the trial level and with the
exposure-selection variables included in the regression, the nonpartisan election, merit selection,
and elite appointment variables are all positive and significant relative to partisan election,
though the exposure variable for partisan election is positive and significant as well. At the
appellate level, the same variables all hold significance, though they also switch signs. These
conflicting results seem to suggest that, overall, the selection-related variables do not have
coefficients significantly different from zero. However, an F-test failed to show that, held in
conjunction, the coefficients were not significantly different from zero.
DISCUSSION
The results for the female OLS models support the hypothesis that the female attorney
population of a state is a more significant determinant of trial court judges than judges at the
appellate or supreme level. At the trial level, female attorney representation holds a one-to-one
ratio with female representation on the state trial benches. However, unlike past predictions, the
SEM tables do not show that female judges at the trial level are correlated to female
representation on the appellate benches (Williams 2007, Tokarz 1986). Overall, the r-squared
15. Bass, p. 14
value for the female-only regressions was very low in comparison with the other three regression
sections—approaching zero for the appellate and supreme court regressions. This seems to
suggest that there are other variables significantly affecting female representation. The results
do not clearly show that any selection system favors or disfavors female representation at any
level of court. This is in opposition to the findings of Margaret Williams’s 2007 paper
published in Social Science quarterly, in which she describes nonpartisan election as favorable to
female candidates at the appellate level.
The results suggest that the presence of African American or Black attorneys has a
positive influence on African American or Black judges at all three court levels. The ratio
between African American or Black lawyers and judges is larger than a one-to-one ratio at all
three levels of court. The results also show a positive relationship between African American or
Black trial judges and their appellate counterparts in the SEM tables, showing that states with a
high BJt value also have a higher BJa value. However, no selection system stands out as
favoring these judicial candidates. Much of these results mimic those of Alozie’s findings using
data from 1985 (Alozie 1988).
Like the results for African American or Black judges, Hispanic or Latino attorney
presence (HL) holds a positive and significant relationship to the presence of Hispanic or Latino
judges at all three levels of court. This relationship is strongest at the supreme court level—a
one percent increase in HL roughly corresponds to a 2.2 percent increase in HJs. In addition, the
SEM tables show that states with high HJt values, on average, have higher HJa values. Also
similar to the results for African American or Black judges is the fact that no selection system
stands out as favoring these judicial candidates.
16. Bass, p. 15
The proportion of minority lawyers in a state is positively and significantly correlated
with minority judicial representation on all three levels of court, hovering near a one-to-one ratio
in both the OLS and SEM results. However, the results regarding election system are unclear.
Any results that appear when the selection system dummy variables are included are confounded
by the addition of the exposure variables.
The overall results regarding female/minority judicial representation and selection system
are unclear, and the inclusion of the exposure variable extinguishes any clarity that might have
been. These conflicting and inconsistent results call for a longitudinal study which examines the
effect of selection systems over time. Not only is the number of observations limited in a cross-
sectional study, but such a format also misses the natural experiments created by the
implementation of different selection systems over time. A longitudinal study would have the
potential to ferret out state-specific effects which could be influencing the results of cross-
sectional studies. Additionally, there is practical potential for a study of this caliber, as data on
female and minority justices and lawyers stretches back to at least 1985.
17. Bass, p. 16
Appendix I: Variable Key
s, a, t Court level label for selection method variables (PE, NE, MS, E) and
percent female/minority judges (FJ, BJ, HJ, MJ). Supreme court
variables labeled with ‘s’; appellate court variables labeled with ‘a’,
trials court variables labeled with ‘t’.
PEx Partisan election of judges, by state and court level (x will be an s, a,
or t for the level of court)
NEx Nonpartisan election of judges, by state and court level (x will be an s,
a, or t for the level of court)
MSx Merit selection of judges, by state and court level (x will be an s, a, or
t for the level of court)
FJx Percent female state judges among all state judges, by state and court
level (x will be an s, a, or t for the level of court)
BJx Percent African American/Black state judges among all state judges,
by state and court level (x will be an s, a, or t for the level of court)
HJx Percent Hispanic or Latino state judges among all state judges, by
state and court level (x will be an s, a, or t for the level of court)
MJx Percent racial/ethnic minority judges among all judges in the state, by
state and court level (x will be an s, a, or t for the level of court)
FL Percent female lawyers among all lawyers, by state
BL Percent African American/black lawyers among all lawyers, by state
HL Percent Hispanic or Latino lawyers among all lawyers, by state
ML Percent minority lawyers among all lawyers, by state
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