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This article examines how increasing racial and ethnic diversity among courtroom actors affects sentencing outcomes and disparities.

June 17, 2026Law and Human BehaviorOpen Access

Race and ethnicity in the courtroom workgroup: Can diversifying the court solve racial and ethnic disparities in case outcomes?

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Authors

RBRachel BowmanIndiana University Bloomington OMOjmarrh MitchellUniversity of California, Irvine DMDaniela Oramas MoraGeorge Mason University

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Implication

Empirical analysis reveals that more diverse courtroom workgroups reduce punitive measures in criminal cases, suggesting implications for justice reform.

Key Points

This article examines how increasing racial and ethnic diversity among courtroom actors affects sentencing outcomes and disparities.
Analyzed 10,202 criminal cases using a multinomial logistic regression model.
Evaluated the impact of workgroup diversity on pretrial and sentencing outcomes.
Accounted for data nesting with clustered standard errors.
Diverse workgroups were generally less punitive than homogenous White workgroups.
Hispanic defendants faced worse outcomes in Hispanic-majority court groups, while Black defendants benefited from Black-majority groups.
Highlighted the need to differentiate effects of race and ethnicity in assessing workgroup diversity.

Cite This Study

Bowman et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a323bbcd50b63ecad206394 https://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000658

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Implication

Empirical analysis reveals that more diverse courtroom workgroups reduce punitive measures in criminal cases, suggesting implications for justice reform.

Race and ethnicity in the courtroom workgroup: Can diversifying the court solve racial and ethnic disparities in case outcomes?

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

Race and ethnicity in the courtroom workgroup: Can diversifying the court solve racial and ethnic disparities in case outcomes?

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

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