This paper studies the effect of anti-Irish sentiment on 19th-century English jury decisions in criminal trials from London's Old Bailey. Using surnames to measure perceived ethnicity, Irish-named defendants were 3% more likely to be convicted and 16% less likely to receive jury recommendations for mercy. Exploiting variation in expected punishment generated by the abolition of capital punishment, juries are shown to respond differently to extraneous factors when defendants were perceived as Irish. Similar patterns for Irish-named victims further support an interpretation based on ethnic animus. The disparities widened during the Irish Famine migration, and persisted thereafter.

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1 October 2026

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The Economic Journal 2026

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DOI: 10.1093/ej/ueag126

https://click.skem1.com/click/bbu3-323khr-we40ax-d5ycqlg9/

This Journal article is published under the centre's Crime programme.