Two prisoners who escaped and participated in a robbery have been recaptured and are awaiting trial for their new crime. Although they are both guilty, the Gotham City 

district attorney is not sure he has enough evidence to convict them. To entice them to testify against each other, the district attorney tells each prisoner the following: “If only one of you confesses and testifies against your partner, the person who confesses will go free while the person who does not confess will surely be convicted and given a 20-year jail sentence. If both of you confess, then you will both be convicted and sent to prison for 5 years. Finally, if neither of you confesses, I can convict you both of a misdemeanor and you will each get 1 year in prison.” What should each prisoner do?

Transcribed Image Text:

TABLE 35 Reward Matrix for Prisoner's Dilemma Prisoner 2 Prisoner 1 Confess Don't Confess Confess (-5,-5) Don't confess (-20, 0) (0, -20) (-1,-1)