Ethics in Research an Error Discussion Chapter

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When ordinary 'beat cops' act unethically, it immediately garners negative media attention because it affects the public in such a visceral and immediate fashion. Police officers are the average citizen's main source of contact with the justice system and so they are carefully watched. However, prosecutors may decide to proceed with a prosecution despite questionable evidence or act unethically in other ways, and unless it comes to the media's attention or there is very stringent oversight over the office from an outside authority, prosecutors' transgressions may go unnoticed. Prosecutors and police officers both have the most serious and complex obligations of members of the justice system: not to get a conviction, but to pursue justice.

What suggestions might you offer to avoid errors in human inquiry?

First and foremost, to prevent errors in human inquiry causing errors in judgment, it is essential that members of law enforcement staff are cognizant of the fact that racial prejudices and other biases can substantially affect witnesses' perceptions. When presenting a line-up to a witness, the officer in charge of handling the questioning should not know who the suspect is, to avoid biasing the witness. Prosecutors and police should be aware that witnesses may have more difficulty with accurately identifying a suspect who is not of their own race.

The public itself must be more self-conscious about possible errors and distrust the old cliche that a picture is worth a thousand words.

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Publicizing cases in which DNA evidence overturned the conviction of various defendants convicted on the strength of eyewitness testimony has been extremely important in demonstrating that even when a witness may genuinely believe that he or she saw something, biases in judgment can cause an error. It is also important to publicize scientific studies which show the extent to which our senses can lie to us and be distracted by irrelevant stimuli.

Greater education of the public in general about the true principles of the scientific method can also help them avoid fallacies in judgment like overgeneralizations and hasty conclusions based upon incomplete evidence. The standards of proof, both in a court of law and also from the point-of-view of forensic science, are often much greater than those which we establish for ourselves when casually observing the world, or are in a situation which is emotional and thus can cause us to generate false impressions in the heat of the moment......

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