Prosecutor’s tunnel vision

The first in a multi-parter about how carefully constructed processes can still arrive at bad decisions. This week we look at some notorious cases from the antipodes.

By tunnel vision, we mean that “compendium of common heuristics and logical fallacies,” to which we are all susceptible, that lead actors in the criminal justice system to “focus on a suspect, select and filter the evidence that will “build a case” for conviction, while ignoring or suppressing evidence that points away from guilt.” This process leads in…