PUBLIC OUTRAGE AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE: LESSONS FROM THE JESSICA LAL CASE

Witness tampering and public outrage have combined to affect judicial out-comes in a series of high-profile criminal cases in India. We study how these phenomena operate together in a country with extremes of wealth and poverty, but with functioning judicial and political systems. Bribes and threats are intri-cately linked in the strategic interaction between offenders and witnesses. Not only do bribes provide a direct incentive that can suppress testimony, they also signal a greater likelihood of retaliation and hence serve as implicit threats to witnesses. The possibility of public outrage turns out to be an effective con-straint on witness tampering. In many situations, greater media effectiveness can improve the administration of justice, even when more obvious improve-ments in judicial effectiveness cannot. 1