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For a classic example of this, our justice system tends to—in general—treat witness testimony as highly reliable. After all, the person was there. They saw it w
by stouset 3y ago
For a classic example of this, our justice system tends to—in general—treat witness testimony as highly reliable. After all, the person was there. They saw it with their own eyes.
Of course we all know rationally that witness testimony is generally terrible. And yet we don’t actually seem to care about that when push comes to shove.
- dredmorbius 3y agoThe "science" behind much criminal forensics is often laughably absurd. Even where there is valid theoretical foundation, in many cases the practice voids validity of much of the results. And that's before we consider the psychology of witnesses, criminals, juries, judges, law enforcement, etc.
- Ferret7446 3y agoIt's terrible, but it's reliably terrible. You always have exactly one layer of distortion between the evidence and reality: one human being. And that human being can be held accountable for willful misrepresentation. (Hearsay, when there is more than one human in the chain, is treated differently.)