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

Abstract

We estimate the causal effects of exposure to communal violence during early childhood on pretrial detention rates. We exploit novel administrative data on judgments and detailed 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 percent more prone to deny bail than the average judge. Heterogeneity analyses show that the impact is stronger for the experience of riots between the age 3- and 6 years and the age at first exposure at 4 and 5 years. The early exposure effect is further driven by judges exposed to riots that have resulted in lower casualties or duration. We conjecture that exposure to the state's riot de-escalation efforts during formative years has lasting effects on social preferences for strong law and order. We provide suggestive evidence in support of this interpretation. Our results, which are robust across generations, highlight the link between early experiences related to social disorder and later life decisions on law and order.