The Impact of Legal and Extralegal Factors on Judicial Decision Making
A Special Issue of Social Sciences (ISSN 2076-0760) belonging to the section "Crime and Justice".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 2082
Editors
Interests: introduction to criminology; introduction to criminal justice; research methods; corrections; victimology; violence in America; criminological theory
Interests: program evaluation; criminal sentencing; gender and racial disparities in the criminal justice system; juvenile justice and decision making in the juvenile court
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
In this Special Issue, we invite submissions that examine the role of extralegal factors in judicial decision making, with particular attention to how demographic, contextual, and systemic influences shape court outcomes, including age, gender, race, and ethnicity. This topic is especially important as decision makers in the criminal justice system should consider legal factors, such as prior record, offense severity, and aggravating and mitigating circumstances, when making judicial decisions such as pretrial release, charging decisions, and sentencing.
We seek research that investigates how judicial actors, such as prosecutors and judges, interpret information, exercise discretion, and respond to social pressures inside and outside the courtroom. Submissions may address, but are not limited to, topics such as the following:
- The impact of race, ethnicity, gender, age, or socioeconomic status on bail decisions, charging decisions, sentencing, or supervision outcomes;
- Decision making shortcuts used by judges, prosecutors, or pretrial officers;
- The influence of community characteristics, media coverage, or political climate on judicial behavior;
- Theoretical and empirical inquiries into courtroom culture, discretion, and institutional norms;
- Evaluations of reforms aimed at reducing disparities, such as judicial training, structured decision tools, or policy changes.
We welcome interdisciplinary contributions that draw from criminology, sociology, law, public policy, and related fields. Qualitative, quantitative, mixed-method, and comparative design studies that advance the study of extralegal influences in judicial decision making are encouraged.
Prof. Dr. Carly Hilinski-Rosick
Prof. Dr. Tina Freiburger
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Social Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- pretrial detention
- bail
- sentencing
- extralegal variables
- legal variables
- sentencing disparity
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