Comments on: The sad case of Jeff Deskovic http://blacksmythe.com/blog/2007/03/19/the-sad-case-of-jeff-deskovic/ The Future is Here Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:26:42 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Lester Spence http://blacksmythe.com/blog/2007/03/19/the-sad-case-of-jeff-deskovic/comment-page-1/#comment-1137 Lester Spence Thu, 22 Mar 2007 14:44:59 +0000 http://blacksmythe.com/blog/2007/03/19/the-sad-case-of-jeff-deskovic/#comment-1137 Non-profits fill gaps that the economic/political market can't or won't fill. In the best case, the gap it fills should end up necessitating that the government steps in to fill it, hence making the non-profit irrelevant. I think we'll soon have a much better handle on false convictions, as DNA is used more and the funds become available to better store the DNA of perps. I wouldn't say 30%, but I'm betting it is a lot bigger than 1%. Non-profits fill gaps that the economic/political market can’t or won’t fill. In the best case, the gap it fills should end up necessitating that the government steps in to fill it, hence making the non-profit irrelevant.

I think we’ll soon have a much better handle on false convictions, as DNA is used more and the funds become available to better store the DNA of perps. I wouldn’t say 30%, but I’m betting it is a lot bigger than 1%.

]]> By: albatross http://blacksmythe.com/blog/2007/03/19/the-sad-case-of-jeff-deskovic/comment-page-1/#comment-1120 albatross Tue, 20 Mar 2007 13:55:06 +0000 http://blacksmythe.com/blog/2007/03/19/the-sad-case-of-jeff-deskovic/#comment-1120 The question this kind of case always raises in my mind: what's the rate of false convictions for serious crimes like this? It seems like we have enough information to answer this now, in principle. Take the full set of, say, murder convictions in a span of time before DNA evidence was normally used in the trial. Randomly select murder convictions in the set, and for each one, determine whether there's DNA evidence that could falsify the prosecution's story. When we have enough falsifiable convictions, run the DNA tests on all of them, even the ones where the convict was already executed or released on appeal or whatever. Then we might get a meaningful fraction. Anecdotes like this one are terrible, but to know how big a problem it is, we need to know how common it is. Enough death penalty cases have been overturned on DNA evidence that we know there are a lot of errors. But what fraction? If it's 1%, that's a very different sort of problem than if it's, say, 30%. The question this kind of case always raises in my mind: what’s the rate of false convictions for serious crimes like this? It seems like we have enough information to answer this now, in principle. Take the full set of, say, murder convictions in a span of time before DNA evidence was normally used in the trial. Randomly select murder convictions in the set, and for each one, determine whether there’s DNA evidence that could falsify the prosecution’s story. When we have enough falsifiable convictions, run the DNA tests on all of them, even the ones where the convict was already executed or released on appeal or whatever. Then we might get a meaningful fraction.

Anecdotes like this one are terrible, but to know how big a problem it is, we need to know how common it is. Enough death penalty cases have been overturned on DNA evidence that we know there are a lot of errors. But what fraction? If it’s 1%, that’s a very different sort of problem than if it’s, say, 30%.

]]> By: E.C. Hopkins http://blacksmythe.com/blog/2007/03/19/the-sad-case-of-jeff-deskovic/comment-page-1/#comment-1113 E.C. Hopkins Mon, 19 Mar 2007 22:12:36 +0000 http://blacksmythe.com/blog/2007/03/19/the-sad-case-of-jeff-deskovic/#comment-1113 Deskovic's story reminds me of Anton Chekhov's classic short story, <b><a HREF="http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/ac/jr/154.htm" rel="nofollow">The Bet</a></b> (or <b>The Wager</b>). Both Deskovic and the young lawyer in Chekhov's story were imprisoned for 15 years even though they committed no crime. Chekhov's lawyer, though he grew incredibly knowledgeable after having read hundreds of books in solitude, grew to despise all of civilization at the end of his 15 years. Deskovic probably harbors a lot of anger. I do hope he will not be punished twice over by being unable to keep his anger from dominating him from this point forward. As for obtaining government funding for organizations such as the Innocence Project: I wonder whether doing so would force the government to first admit that its justice system should work better at its current funding level or that its justice system is underfunded, and because it is underfunded, it cannot do its job well without organizations such as the Innocence Project. I'd expect the federal government to make the argument that the most economical and just system we could afford would still make wrongful convictions. I'd expect them to tell us that while they are sorry that these things happen, they are inevitable in limited resource environments. Organizations like the Innocence Project serve customers (donors) who want our justice system to be even better than the one our politicians, and perhaps most of our fellow citizens, are willing to pay for. It does exactly what a non-profit should; it enables someone to buy a better society based on his or her rare tastes. Deskovic’s story reminds me of Anton Chekhov’s classic short story, The Bet (or The Wager). Both Deskovic and the young lawyer in Chekhov’s story were imprisoned for 15 years even though they committed no crime. Chekhov’s lawyer, though he grew incredibly knowledgeable after having read hundreds of books in solitude, grew to despise all of civilization at the end of his 15 years. Deskovic probably harbors a lot of anger. I do hope he will not be punished twice over by being unable to keep his anger from dominating him from this point forward.

As for obtaining government funding for organizations such as the Innocence Project: I wonder whether doing so would force the government to first admit that its justice system should work better at its current funding level or that its justice system is underfunded, and because it is underfunded, it cannot do its job well without organizations such as the Innocence Project. I’d expect the federal government to make the argument that the most economical and just system we could afford would still make wrongful convictions. I’d expect them to tell us that while they are sorry that these things happen, they are inevitable in limited resource environments. Organizations like the Innocence Project serve customers (donors) who want our justice system to be even better than the one our politicians, and perhaps most of our fellow citizens, are willing to pay for. It does exactly what a non-profit should; it enables someone to buy a better society based on his or her rare tastes.

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