The study shows that when intense media coverage made a minority group more visible in connection with crime, judges in the Netherlands handed down significantly longer prison sentences to defendants from that group. Using nationwide administrative data, the authors find that this effect occurred only at the sentencing stage, where judges have the most discretion, and not in police or prosecutorial decisions. The effect faded once public attention declined, suggesting that temporary salience, rather than crime itself, shaped judicial outcomes.
Public and societal impact
The study attracted substantial attention beyond academia, with coverage in most major Dutch newspapers and strong interest from journalists and the general public. It helped spark a broader societal debate on potential biases within the justice system, with judges and even the president of the Dutch judiciary acknowledging that courts, too, can be sensitive to bias. The hope is that this work contributes to continued discussion, and future research, on how such biases can be reduced.
What Kyra is working on now
Kyra Hanemaaijer continues to study the economics of crime and the justice system across countries. Her current projects include research on substance abuse treatment in Swedish prisons, the impact of prisoners’ release on victims’ mental health in the Netherlands, and trust in the police in the UK.
Read the article“Minority Salience and Criminal Justice Decisions”
