The right to counsel
Criminal prosecution in 19th century London
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9725003 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Bryan Mccannon (0000-0003-2433-2803, Illinois Wesleyan University), Bryan C McCannon (Illinois Wesleyan University), Zachary Porreca (0000-0002-2213-1437, Bocconi University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 92 |
| Issue | 365 |
| Pages | 285-321 |
| Publication date | 2025-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Economica (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0013-0427 • E-ISSN: 1468-0335 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/ecca.12560 |
| OpenAlex | W4404488254 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 39 |
We exploit a dataset of criminal trials in 19th century London to evaluate the impact of an accused's right to counsel on convictions. While lower‐level crimes had an established history of professional representation prior to 1836, individuals accused of committing a felony did not, despite the prosecution being conducted by professional attorneys. The Prisoners' Counsel Act 1836 remedied this and first introduced the right to counsel in common law systems. Using a difference‐in‐differences estimation strategy, we identify the effect of the universal right to defence counsel. We find the surprising result that the professionalization of the courtroom led to an increase in the conviction rate. We argue that this effect was a consequence of the Act inducing a shift in the beliefs of jurors, who grew more likely to believe the evidence put before them once it could be challenged in an adversarial courtroom. We go further, and employ a topic modelling approach to the text of the transcripts to provide suggestive evidence on how the trials changed when the right to defence counsel was fully introduced, documenting a movement towards increased usage of precise and detailed language when discussing details of alleged offences
Criminal case · Criminology · Political science · Right to counsel · Sociology · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Criminal Law and Evidence · Law · Legal principles and applications
Democratization Under the Threat of Revolution
When Should You Adjust Standard Errors for Clustering?
Bayesian Inference for Causal Effects
Make or Buy? The Provision of Indigent Defense Services in the United States
Is Your Lawyer a Lemon? Incentives and Selection in the Public Provision of Criminal Defense
Scales of Justice
Blood money and the bloody code
The law & economics of private prosecutions in industrial revolution England
The Prosecutorial Origins of Defence Counsel in the Eighteenth Century
Jury Selection in Victorian England
Convicting the Innocent
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |