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Download the Paper (426 K, PDF file) - July 26, 2004 Tell a colleague about it. Printing Tips: Select 'print as image' in the Acrobat print dialog if you have trouble printing.

ABSTRACT:
In this paper, we re-analyze data used to study the role of race in capital cases in the state of Maryland. We show that when alternative, and arguably more appropriate, statistical procedures are applied, the racial effects reported in early work turn out to be very fragile. The methodological point is more general: conventional causal modeling with observational data is not likely to produce robust results for a variety of criminal justice applications.

SUGGESTED CITATION:
Richard Berk and Azusa Li, "Statistical Difficulties in Determining the Role of Race in Capital Cases: A Re-analysis of Data from the State of Maryland" (July 26, 2004). Department of Statistics, UCLA. Department of Statistics Papers. Paper 2004072601.
http://repositories.cdlib.org/uclastat/papers/2004072601