We examine whether the perceived ethnoreligious origin of defendant's name matters for criminal justice outcomes. Drawing on data on adjudication of drug offenses in Belgium, we find that defendants with a perceived Islamic name face on average three to five percentage points greater prospects of conviction than defendants with a Belgian name. The name effect is not discernible with respect to sentence severity, does not take place in custody decisions, affects primarily male defendants, magnifies the effect of prior criminal record, occurs only when the presiding judge has had limited opportunity for exposure to Islamic culture, and, importantly, obtains even for defendants who never physically appeared before the judge. Our findings are consistent with the interpretation that judges sometimes rely on defendant's name to form perceptions of defendant's ethnoreligious identity and, in turn, attributions of defendant's culpability. Any underlying judicial bias is likely implicit and not systemic in nature.

我们研究了被告人姓名的民族宗教起源是否对刑事司法结果重要。根据比利时毒品犯罪审判的数据，我们发现，具有伊斯兰名字的被告人被定罪的可能性比具有比利时名字的被告人平均高出三到五个百分点。就刑罚的严重性而言，名称的影响是不可识别的，不会在羁押判决中发生，主要影响男性被告，扩大先前的犯罪记录的影响，仅在主审法官接触伊斯兰文化的机会有限时才会发生，并且，重要的是，即使对于从未亲自出庭的被告，也能获得。我们的发现与法官有时依赖被告的解释相一致。该名称形成对被告人的种族宗教身份的认知，进而形成对被告人的罪魁祸首的归属。任何潜在的司法偏见都可能是隐性的，而不是系统性的。