TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2006//
TI  - Does the Threat of the Death Penalty Affect Plea Bargaining in Murder Cases? Evidence from New York's 1995 Reinstatement of Capital Punishment
JO  - American law and economics review
A1  - Kuziemko, I.
SP  - 116
EP  - 142
VL  - 8
IS  - 1
N2  - 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 /> 
LA  - 
SN  - 1465-7252
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aler/ahj005
ID  - ref1
ER  -