Ethnic Disparity in Criminal Sentences in China: Evidence from the Universe of Court Verdicts

Abstract

Using the universal court verdicts in China, we find that ethnic minorities receive significantly harsher penalties than the majority, the Chinese Han. The lion parts of disparities are driven by varying courts’ leniency across spaces, yet unexplainable gaps remain. Minorities receive 6.7% longer sentences and a 26.9% and 34.9% higher likelihood of life imprisonment and the death penalty. The ethnic disparity is larger for crimes associated with social unrest, against Christian and Islamic defendants, and against ethnicities with a conflicted history with the Han, and the bias is exacerbated during Uyghur separatist movements, all of which imply China’s judicial motivations to punish threats for social order. The mandated sentencing guideline significantly shrank the disparity, suggesting that limiting judges’ discretion can reduce unwarranted case resolutions.