Prosecutor’s tunnel vision

The collection of biases and cognitive gin-traps that can lead prosecutors — those who “prosecute” a particular theory of the world — to stick with it, however starkly it may vary from available evidence and common sense.

So named because it is often literal prosecutors, of crimes, who suffer from it. This kind of tunnel vision has led to notorious miscarriages of justice where innocent people come to be convicted notwithstanding clear and plausible alternative explanations for their ostensible “crimes”.

A review of the background, some famous cases, and the three phases of tunnel vision.

The text for this podcast is here.

Great sources:

Lindy Chamberlain: A Perfect Storm: The True Story of the Chamberlains.

Peter Ellis: Alexander Behse and Ali Jones’ Conviction: The Christchurch Civic Creche Case.

David Bain: Christchurch Journalist Martin Van Beynen’s Black Hands.

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