Moro’s Opinions: A Quantitative Analysis of Sentencing in Operation Car Wash

Abstract

Despite growing numbers of cases around the globe, the literature on judicial decision-making in corruption prosecutions remains underdeveloped. Why do judges convict some defendants in corruption cases and not others? Why do judges apply harsher sentences to some defendants than others? In sum, what explains variation in the severity with which the judicial system judges public figures and private citizens accused of corruption? This chapter draws on the experience of Brazil’s Operation Car Wash (Lava Jato, in Portuguese) to begin to address these questions.