The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in a statement that they had legitimate concerns over two separate U.S. grand jury decisions not to indict the white officers involved in the deaths of unarmed, black men, Michael Brown and Eric Garner. Most of us are aware the new about protests across USA against such discrimination. Alleging a strong racial bias against black minorities by US legal system, there was a widespread protests and demonstrations across USA for the last two weeks or so. In this context, it is worth noting an article that appeared in the last month American Economic Review by two economists on racial bias in US courts. Modeling courts as minimizing type I and type II errors, the authors uncover 3 and 9 percentage points higher reversal rates in direct appeal and habeas corpus cases, respectively, against minority defendants who killed whites. This indicates the racial bias in capital punishments awarded by trial courts especially when the victim is a white and the defendant is from a minority race. For more information: Alesina, Alberto, and Eliana La Ferrara. 2014. A Test of Racial Bias in Capital Sentencing. American Economic Review, 104(11): 3397-3433.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 04:05:42 +0000
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