Do Politicians in Power Receive Special Treatment in Courts? Evidence from India

Rubén Poblete-Cazenave

doi:10.1111/ajps.12804

Do Politicians in Power Receive Special Treatment in Courts? Evidence from India

Rubén Poblete-Cazenave^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Economics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

32 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Do politicians in power receive special treatment in courts? I study judicial discrimination in the world's largest democracy, India, by analyzing whether pending criminal cases against politicians who marginally win their election are more likely to be closed without a conviction than cases against politicians who marginally lose their election. I find that winning office increases the chances of a favorable outcome only for politicians from the ruling party. Evidence suggests two main explanations for this result: (1) members of the legislative assemblies aligned with the ruling party misuse executive powers to manipulate prosecutors and police officers, and (2) witnesses turn hostile in high-profile criminal cases.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	78-95
Number of pages	18
Journal	American Journal of Political Science
Volume	69
Issue number	1
Early online date	15 Jul 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12804
Publication status	Published - 15 Jul 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors. American Journal of Political Science published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Midwest Political Science Association.

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This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

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American J Political Sci - 2023 - Poblete‐Cazenave - Do Politicians in Power Receive Special Treatment in Courts EvidenceFinal published version, 621 KBLicence: CC BY

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Do Politicians in Power Receive Special Treatment in Courts? Evidence from India

Abstract

Bibliographical note

UN SDGs

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