Enforcement Malfeasance, Witness Participation, Crime, and Reform

Abstract

We develop a model wherein a reputation for prosecutorial malfeasance reduces the willingness of witnesses to cooperate with prosecutors. This causes an increase in the crime rate and in wrongly-convicted innocent defendants. Because citizens are taxpayers and may be victims, perpetrators, witnesses, or falsely-accused defendants, they care about the prosecutor’s quality. They update beliefs about this quality based on the disposition of cases. If the prosecutor’s believed quality falls below a threshold, then a majority of voters choose to replace the prosecutor with a challenger, in expectation of reform. We compare the majority’s choice with that of a social planner.