Data and Code for: The Role of Race in the Legal Representation of Low-Income Defendants

While most criminal defendants rely on assigned counsel for legal representation, little is known about the role of race in the defense of low-income defendants by court-appointed attorneys. Exploiting the quasi-random assignment of court-appointed attorneys to cases in Travis County, Texas, we test whether attorneys secure better deals for same-race defendants. Results indicate that while Black and White attorneys are similarly effective at representing White defendants, Black defendants who are represented by White rather than Black attorneys are 14-16 percent more likely to have their charges dismissed and 15-26 percent less likely to be incarcerated. Moreover, we find no evidence that having a different-race attorney increases the likelihood of re-offending in the future.

尽管绝大多数刑事被告人均依赖指定辩护律师提供法律代理服务，但学界对法院指定辩护人在低收入被告人辩护中所涉种族角色的认知仍极为有限。本研究借助美国得克萨斯州特拉维斯县法院指定辩护人对案件的准随机分配机制，检验辩护人是否会为同种族被告人争取更有利的处置结果。研究结果显示，尽管黑人与白人辩护律师在代理白人被告人时的表现并无显著差异，但由白人辩护律师而非黑人辩护律师代理的黑人被告人，其指控被撤销的概率高出14%-16%，而被判处监禁的概率则低15%-26%。此外，本研究未发现由不同种族辩护人代理会提升被告人未来再犯可能性的相关证据。