Sentencing Outcomes in a Multinational Society: When Judges, Defendants and Victims Can Be either Arabs or Jews

The focus of this paper is the effect of nationality on prison disposition in Israel. An interaction between the nationality of the judge, the perpetrator and the victim is examined. The data were collected in the northern district courts in Israel and consist of 1394 court records. The results show that being an Arab defendant is an inherent liability in the Israeli criminal justice system – they are more likely than Jews to receive prison sentences. Arab judges seem to be more punitive than their Jewish colleagues are. The nationality of the victim plays a significant role only in cases tried by Arab judges. In the case of an Arab judge and a Jewish victim the likelihood of an Arab defendant getting a prison sentence is higher than when the victim is an Arab. This leads to a consideration of the effect of stereotypes and the majority–minority and in–out group relations on the performance of the justice system.