I think this is an enormously useful and helpful explanation of why cops do what they do. A very simple test, that seems to explain many observed behaviors. Applying it to coerced confessions suddenly made it unnecessary to infer evil intent--it is so obviously easier to nail someone you have in custody than to be sure they are the right person to nail. And all the incentives reward conviction, not correctness. Why work harder? It makes perfect sense.
Thinking of how medicine, as a profession, has been respected or even revered pretty much forever, even in times and places where it was worse than useless. In Europe, at least, I think that getting medical treatment in the days before the invention of antiseptic would significantly lower your chance of survival, even if you weren't being bled by Theodoric of York, Medieval Barber.
I think this is an enormously useful and helpful explanation of why cops do what they do. A very simple test, that seems to explain many observed behaviors. Applying it to coerced confessions suddenly made it unnecessary to infer evil intent--it is so obviously easier to nail someone you have in custody than to be sure they are the right person to nail. And all the incentives reward conviction, not correctness. Why work harder? It makes perfect sense.
Thinking of how medicine, as a profession, has been respected or even revered pretty much forever, even in times and places where it was worse than useless. In Europe, at least, I think that getting medical treatment in the days before the invention of antiseptic would significantly lower your chance of survival, even if you weren't being bled by Theodoric of York, Medieval Barber.