
How does racial diversity impact institutional outcomes and (in)equality? Discussions about diversity usually focus on how individuals’ identities shape their behavior, but diversity is a group-level characteristic. Scholars must therefore consider the relationship between group composition and the individual decisions that shape institutional outcomes. Using a combination of state court data, experimental data, and interviews with current and former trial judges, I explore the relationship between racial diversity among the judges comprising a courthouse and individual judges’ decisions. I find that as the non-White and, especially, Black judges gain representation in a courthouse, racial disparities in White judges’ sentencing decisions decrease. I consider the mechanisms that may be driving this relationship as well as the conditions under which the relationship is most likely to exist.