Essays on Identity-Based Bias and Discrimination
type: CreativeWork
description: This dissertation empirically examines identity-based disparities and discrimination in the context of criminal justice and science. It focuses on gender and racial bias within the U.S. criminal justice system and ethnicity-based disparities in international scientific collaboration due to the rising U.S.-China tensions. Across these contexts, the dissertation documents the evidence for discrimination and its consequences. Chapter 1 examines whether gender match between prosecutors and defendants influences prosecutorial charging decisions and case outcomes. Prior research has largely focused on same-gender bias among judges, juries, and federal prosecutors. This study extends the analysis to county prosecutors who have broader discretion. Using administrative data with random case assignment, I find strong relative opposite-gender favoritism in property crimes. In property crimes, relative to the mean, female prosecutors are 32.2% less likely to drop a case and 13.5% less likely to drop a charge when handling same-gender defendants compared to male prosecutors. These biases carry through to case outcomes, increasing overall convictions by 6% relative to the mean. I also find weak evidence of same-gender favoritism in person crime charging decisions, but the bias does not carry through to sentencing outcomes. These results are similar in magnitude to previous studies on federal-level convictions. Altogether, the findings highlight same-gender bias in prosecutorial decisions at the state level, with effects differing by crime type. Chapter 2 investigates how the racial match of prosecutors, defendants, and victims affects charging decisions and case outcomes. Adding to the existing research that documents same-race favoritism between prosecutors and defendants, this study contributes by examining the mitigating effect of victim race. Leveraging the random assignment of prosecutors in a large district attorney’s office, I find evidence of both same-defendant-race favo…
abstract: This dissertation empirically examines identity-based disparities and discrimination in the context of criminal justice and science. It focuses on gender and racial bias within the U.S. criminal justice system and ethnicity-based disparities in international scientific collaboration due to the rising U.S.-China tensions. Across these contexts, the dissertation documents the evidence for discrimination and its consequences. Chapter 1 examines whether gender match between prosecutors and defendants influences prosecutorial charging decisions and case outcomes. Prior research has largely focused on same-gender bias among judges, juries, and federal prosecutors. This study extends the analysis to county prosecutors who have broader discretion. Using administrative data with random case assignment, I find strong relative opposite-gender favoritism in property crimes. In property crimes, relative to the mean, female prosecutors are 32.2% less likely to drop a case and 13.5% less likely to drop a charge when handling same-gender defendants compared to male prosecutors. These biases carry through to case outcomes, increasing overall convictions by 6% relative to the mean. I also find weak evidence of same-gender favoritism in person crime charging decisions, but the bias does not carry through to sentencing outcomes. These results are similar in magnitude to previous studies on federal-level convictions. Altogether, the findings highlight same-gender bias in prosecutorial decisions at the state level, with effects differing by crime type. Chapter 2 investigates how the racial match of prosecutors, defendants, and victims affects charging decisions and case outcomes. Adding to the existing research that documents same-race favoritism between prosecutors and defendants, this study contributes by examining the mitigating effect of victim race. Leveraging the random assignment of prosecutors in a large district attorney’s office, I find evidence of both same-defendant-race favo…
author: Xiao, Jiusi
keywords: Criminal Justice, Discrimination, Gender, Race, Scientific Production, Economics
date published: 2025-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:41:09Z
provider: Claremont Graduate University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Claremont Graduate University