Remarkable is the motivation of this chemist. No substantial money has changed hands, and she probably hasn't even received a promotion due to her higher conviction rates. She probably did it for the recognition or out of some perverse sense of justice. That's actually good news, because it means this case is probably very special.
there have been a number of other forensic scientists who've done pretty similar things for exactly the same motives. a bunch have done similar things because they were just too lazy to do the testing. others because they were incompetently trained.
Government Chemist Tampered With 40,000 Cases
161–170 of 173 posts
Re: Government Chemist Tampered With 40,000 Cases
#162Re: Government Chemist Tampered With 40,000 Cases
#1633-5 years?! THREE TO FIVE YEARS???!!! There are no words. Agents of the law need to be held more accountable for their actions than your average citizen, not less. This is disgusting.
Re: Government Chemist Tampered With 40,000 Cases
#1643-5 years?! THREE TO FIVE YEARS???!!! There are no words. Agents of the law need to be held more accountable for their actions than your average citizen, not less. This is disgusting.
Completely agreed. I think a workable compromise would be to sentence her to 3-5 years for each count -- or even, hell, let's be generous... 1 day for each count of tampering. That's 40,000 counts, 1 day per, continuous -- 109 years and change. Those entrusted with protecting the law should have far more obligation to uphold its tenets than the hoi polloi, lest we start conceding that there really are two classes of…
Re: Government Chemist Tampered With 40,000 Cases
#165Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nothing in your response excuses you throwing race into the mix. Race has nothing to do with it. Economic standing does . Yes, blacks and hispanics suffer disproportionately for the very reasons you cite, but they do not suffer because they are black or hispanic ... they do so because they are disproportionately poor. Rather than focusing on the real issue, insane sentencing for crimes common in poor neighborhoods, y…
Blacks and Hispanics suffer disproportionately, when it comes to sentences and everything else, even adjusted for economic status. I'm sorry pointing out that fact pisses some people off. But why the heck do that think blacks are disproportionately poor to begin with, if not for reasons having to do with their race? Its not like we didn't just get done with a couple of centuries of race based slavery and oppression.…
Jews were smarter, owned more businesses, & had higher IQ scores than whites before, during, and after the holocaust. Blacks on the other hand were behind since the day they were discovered, throughout their oppression, and still to this day have low IQ scores from before kindergarden and into their adulthood. Racism doesn't destroy you, it's just a push. If you can't get back up on your feet that's your fault.
Also Blacks and Hispanics have much higher rates of: crime, teen pregnancy, high school dropouts, low test scores, & broken families.
- Having kids with the dumbest hood rat kinda man you could find is their problem.
- 1 out of 3 black kids dropping out of high school is their problem.
- Almost 80% of blacks not having a father is their problem.
- Over 50% of black women having children with multiple men is their problem.
- Telling each other they don't act black enough is their problem.
- Having a massively high crime rate regardless of wealth or education is their problem.
- Having low impulse control and being hyper-sexual and having a shitty family is their problem.
I find it fascinating how Whites, Jews, Asians, Indians, Middle Easterners, & Native Americans who are in poverty don't have those problems.
Here's a New York Times article on the black/white test score gap. "AFRICAN AMERICANS currently score lower than European Americans on vocabulary, reading, and mathematics tests, as well as on tests that claim to measure scholastic aptitude and intelligence. This gap appears before children enter kindergarten (figure 1-1), and it persists into adulthood. It has narrowed since 1970, but the typical American black still scores below 75 percent of American whites on most standardized tests. On some tests the typical American black scores below more than 85 percent of whites"
You want peoples who were running around naked on the African Savanna and Central American just 400 years ago to have the same achievement and equality and job as Indians, Whites, Jews, Arabs, and Asians who grew up in a society with schools, education, a written language for thousands of years. That's not exactly how evolution and natural selection work. No one is saying that racism doesn't hold people back, but it only holds them back temporarily. Racism and wars and even holocausts don't destroy the group as a whole. Everyone is responsible for themselves, not sitting around begging for table scraps and ranting about how racism is the reason they're behind.
Re: Government Chemist Tampered With 40,000 Cases
#166Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree, in context. If she's purposely stolen years and years from others' lives, she needs to be held accountable for each and every instance. And the idea that this happened in a laboratory doesn't make it any milder...this is, in my opinion, far worse than most violent crimes. I think the time served should be very long, given that most of our violent crimes have very long terms. That said, I think we need to rev…
"... she needs to be held accountable for each and every instance." Accountability is nice, but let's not lose sight of the bigger picture here which is a sharp correction of the system that not only allowed her to carry on for years, but more than likely actively encouraged her. Personally, instead of having her serve a 100 year jail sentence, I would have no problem letting get a jail sentence of 1 year if it meant…
I think they should all be held accountable, no doubt, and I don't think that was lost in the discussion here on HN, thankfully.
I personally find it more contemptible the more power those involved have. This chemist likely felt pressure from her higher-ups. No excuse for her, but disgusting of them to exert their power in that manner.
I hadn't thought much about your last sentence before, but it's very valid. It's a lottery because you're not always caught (and then in some cases, white-collar-crime, you're likely to get a slap on the wrist). I imagine that most criminals are dumb enough to convince themselves they won't be caught, making their odds to "win" seem even higher.
I think crime & punishment is such a complex problem, and our current system is barely passable, and has incredible room for improvement. I just don't want to be the answers guy, because I don't know how to improve it, and the risks are high.
Re: Government Chemist Tampered With 40,000 Cases
#167But in America? What will happen?
Americans like to talk loudly about corruption in other countries but when they learn about corrupt police in many states, corrup sherriffs, corrupt prosecutors (2nd recent case in Mass.) then what do they do? Not much!
This is why the American Empire is on the way out. My family is learning Mandarin Chinese and Russian because it is clear that the two big powers of Asia will dominate the world of the 21st century.
Re: Government Chemist Tampered With 40,000 Cases
#168This kind of case is fascinating. The woman wasn't evil. But her actions really are. It's very easy, too easy, to say that she is evil because what she did was so bad. But that's lazy, and it misses the interesting stuff. How do people get caught up in performing such horrendous acts? There's a bunch of cognitive stuff going on, and some subtle manipulation. I suspect that something similar is how we end up with app…
Given the fact that she made up impressive job titles for herself, and testified as an expert witness in areas where she did not have expertise, she seems to fit the profile of people who are considered to be "evil".
There is more to this case than the act of tainting samples. There is the collusion of others, and there are the other acts of this chemist. The whole picture is of a person who has gone over to the dark side.
Re: Government Chemist Tampered With 40,000 Cases
#169This kind of case is fascinating. The woman wasn't evil. But her actions really are. It's very easy, too easy, to say that she is evil because what she did was so bad. But that's lazy, and it misses the interesting stuff. How do people get caught up in performing such horrendous acts? There's a bunch of cognitive stuff going on, and some subtle manipulation. I suspect that something similar is how we end up with app…
It's not easy to say she is evil; it requires consideration of what is evil, what is an evil person, her particular situation and how it might apply to the definitions. Concluding a person is evil does not preclude looking at any other angles on the case. So, I don't think it is lazy to consider it.
Of course, if the answer is yes, and I think that it is, then you have to ask what boundaries does a sociopath have to cross to become truly "evil". I'm willing to admit that some sociopaths are not evil, but when a person has 40,000 victims and not only taints evidence but makes up fantastic job titles and passes herself off as an expert witness in court, I think she may have crossed the threshold.
Re: Government Chemist Tampered With 40,000 Cases
#170Earlier quoted context omitted.
Blacks and Hispanics suffer disproportionately, when it comes to sentences and everything else, even adjusted for economic status. I'm sorry pointing out that fact pisses some people off. But why the heck do that think blacks are disproportionately poor to begin with, if not for reasons having to do with their race? Its not like we didn't just get done with a couple of centuries of race based slavery and oppression.…
Honey, you're bullshitting us and yourself. You're telling me when Black Africans where discovered a few hundred years ago they were a few years away from inventing the Micro-chip and the Space Shuttle until the evil white man oppressed them? Jews were smarter, owned more businesses, & had higher IQ scores than whites before, during, and after the holocaust. Blacks on the other hand were behind since the day they wer…
I honestly cannot believe that I am responding to this...