@article{ref1,
title="Does the Threat of the Death Penalty Affect Plea Bargaining in Murder Cases? Evidence from New York's 1995 Reinstatement of Capital Punishment",
journal="American law and economics review",
year="2006",
author="Kuziemko, I.",
volume="8",
number="1",
pages="116-142",
abstract="This article investigates whether the death penalty encourages defendants charged with potentially capital crimes to plead guilty in exchange for lesser sentences. I exploit a natural experiment in New York State: the 1995 reinstatement of capital punishment, coupled with the public refusal of some prosecutors to pursue death sentences (N.Y. Penal Law [§] 125.25 [McKinney 1975]). Using individual-level data on all felony arrests in the state between 1985 and 1998, I find the death penalty leads defendants to accept plea bargains with harsher terms, but does not increase defendants' overall propensity to plead guilty. A differences-in-differences analysis of a national cross-section of homicide defendants confirms these results.<p />",
language="",
issn="1465-7252",
doi="10.1093/aler/ahj005",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aler/ahj005"
}