Limitations of experts

[Constantine]

Some cautionary tales.

http://listverse.com/2014/12/31/10-dirt ... -we-trust/

[MysteryReader]

I thumbed through part of the article. I'm not impressed since humans do make mistakes. We can look at the Lizzie case as a prime example- look at the mistakes the police made. What was wrong with the article? The simple fact is people think they know how things should work or do work due to shows like CSI, Criminal Minds, etc. It's a sore spot with us Criminal Justice people.

[Constantine]

The whole point of the article is that humans make mistakes and that we mustn't ascribe godlike qualities to those with expertise in their fields. I don't see what you're complaining about, frankly.

[Aamartin]

In this case, it doesn't seem like the killer made any mistakes!!

[Constantine]

If you mean Lizzie, she made a great many. She just lucked out.

[MysteryReader]

In this case, it doesn't seem like the killer made any mistakes!!

You're right about that! It's the perfect crime (although I don't necessarily believe in the perfect crime) because there weren't any trails of blood (or goop), no weapon, no apparent blood stains other than where the 2 crimes took place.

[Aamartin]

If you mean Lizzie, she made a great many. She just lucked out.

I disagree. Apart from the note debacle and her vague alibi for the time of Andrew's death-- she made no real mistakes. No weapon found, no blood trail-- nothing

[Constantine]

And the attempt to buy prussic acid and her "premonition" to Alice Russell and the dress burning and her expressions of hatred towards her stepmother. Sorry, I can't agree with you.

[augusta]

I no longer blame the cops of Fall River for 'bungling' the case. They never had anything like this happen before. Tho fingerprinting was invented, it wasn't used yet by the US. So many people just traipsed into the home. Abby's body was moved. Much of the police force was enjoying their Clam Bake. Emma washed the blood off the wall in the sitting room or the door leading to the kitchen before anyone gave her permission. Lizzie was told she was The Suspect, then wasn't allowed her lawyer to be present at the Coroner's Inquest - but Jennings was there and did talk to her in the hallway - no doubt giving her advice. The case was an unsolvable mess from the beginning. But back to the subject of this thread, everyone makes mistakes if they are human. Her having hands described as being so white by one of the women who saw her in the Borden home just after Andrew's murder knocked Lizzie's story out of the ballpark of having been up in the dusty bahn moments before. In writing of the case, I know I've certainly made mistakes by axe-ident. There's a ton of info on it, depending on how deeply one wants to go, and it's easy to get something inadvertently wrong. Mistakes not done on purpose are common and understandable. It's the "mistakes" some make on purpose to make themselves sound a better writer or to sensationalize their work that I find reprehensible. (FYI: "reprehensible", according to my Merriam-Webster, is defined as culpable (deserving blame); deserving blame or censure.) There are some who have went over the top and lied their heads off, knowingly, and made their work believable for years. Yeah, those are "mistakes" all right - too huge to be just "reprehensible". I guess I should not say "unforgivable". Horrible?

[patsy]

Maybe we should say "unforgivable" after all since we know not how bad their works have impacted those of us who follow along. We've suffered losses right here because of sensational theories in which believers were willing to fight anyone to convince us. Hmmmm

We always need watchers to watch the watchers and so on.

[Constantine]

Funny you should say that. I've just finished reading a novel called Some Must Watch. (It's the novel on which the movie The Spiral Staircase was based.)