The Early Origins of Judicial Stringency in Bail Decisions: Evidence from Early-Childhood Exposure To  Hindu-Muslim Riots in India

79 Pages Posted: 8 Apr 2022

See all articles by Nitin Kumar Bharti

Nitin Kumar Bharti

affiliation not provided to SSRN

SUTANUKA ROY

Australian National University (ANU) - Research School of Economics

Abstract

We estimate the causal effects of judges’ exposure to communal violence during earlychildhood on pretrial detention rates by exploiting novel administrative data on judgments anddetailed resumes of judicial officers born during 1955–1991.  Our baseline result is that judges exposed to communal violence between ages 0 and 6 years are 16\% more prone to deny bail than the average judge, with the impact being  stronger for the experience of riots between ages 3 and 6 years. The observed judicial stringency is driven by childhood exposure to riots with a higher duration of state-imposed lockdowns and low riot casualties.

Keywords: Early-childhood, Pretrial Detention, Judicial Bias, Communal Violence

Suggested Citation

Bharti, Nitin Kumar and ROY, SUTANUKA, The Early Origins of Judicial Stringency in Bail Decisions: Evidence from Early-Childhood Exposure To  Hindu-Muslim Riots in India. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4078646 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4078646

Nitin Kumar Bharti (Contact Author)

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

No Address Available

SUTANUKA ROY

Australian National University (ANU) - Research School of Economics ( email )

Canberra
Australia

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