Lava Jato Prosecutions Dataset
In collaboration with research cluster Habeas Data and other faculty members, Luiz built a dataset that tracks the judicial proceedings of each defendant charged as part of the Operation Car Wash (Operação Lava Jato). This dataset includes a variety of different outcomes, such as whether defendants had charges against them accepted by courts, whether they were convicted, and if so, the prison time and fine associated with their sentences.
Luiz uses statistical analyses to explain why some defendants received harsher treatment than others. Specifically, he is working on two papers that test whether 1) defendants’ political or partisan affiliation and 2) press coverage about each defendant affect their treatment in justice system, even when controlling for alternative explanations such as the quantity and seriousness of crimes committed by defendants.
Luiz uses statistical analyses to explain why some defendants received harsher treatment than others. Specifically, he is working on two papers that test whether 1) defendants’ political or partisan affiliation and 2) press coverage about each defendant affect their treatment in justice system, even when controlling for alternative explanations such as the quantity and seriousness of crimes committed by defendants.
Higher Court Appeals Dataset
Luiz has also built a unique dataset on judicial decisions from higher courts on corruption cases to test under which conditions judges side with prosecutors. Luiz used data mining to collect judicial decisions from the Superior Court of Justice (Superior Tribunal de Justiça) in Brazil related to cases of bribe giving and bribe soliciting. He used supervised machine learning techniques to classify these decisions according to their outcome (whether judges sided with prosecutors or with the defense) and their type (e.g. whether the decision is about a request regarding pre-trial detentions or evidence legality).
He uses statistical analyses to test if, and to what extent, social movement mobilization against corruption affects the outcomes of judicial decisions on corruption cases, even when controlling for confounding factors such as the ideology or background of judges.
He uses statistical analyses to test if, and to what extent, social movement mobilization against corruption affects the outcomes of judicial decisions on corruption cases, even when controlling for confounding factors such as the ideology or background of judges.