The judicial superego: Implicit egoism, internalized racism, and prejudice in three million sentencing decisions

Abstract

I document implicit egoism across 3 million sentencing decisions. In administrative data from the U.S. New Orleans District Attorney's office for 1988–1999 and Chile for 2014–2019, sentences are 8% longer and 2% longer, respectively, when the judge and defendant's first initials match. Name letter effects measure implicit self-esteem. Faced with ego threat, high self-esteem individuals punish negatively valenced targets as self-regulation. In New Orleans, effects are larger for Black defendants labeled by police as “N” rather than “B.” Consistent with recent theoretical models, Black–White sentence differences double for egoist judges, and this effect is especially pronounced among Black judges.