{"id":413,"date":"2012-03-05T22:17:58","date_gmt":"2012-03-05T22:17:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/?p=413"},"modified":"2015-12-29T22:25:24","modified_gmt":"2015-12-29T22:25:24","slug":"why-prosecutors-cant-admit-theyre-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/?p=413","title":{"rendered":"Why prosecutors can&#8217;t admit they&#8217;re wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"style187\" style=\"text-align: right;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-121\" src=\"http:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/111019Tavris2.jpg\" alt=\"111019Tavris2\" width=\"100\" height=\"150\" \/>March 5, 2012<\/p>\n<p class=\"style184\">\u201cDURHAM &#8212; Tracey Cline could not admit she was wrong&#8230;.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"style184\">Thus begins\u00a0J. Andrew Curliss\u2019s latest behavioral analysis\u00a0of Durham County\u2019s latest disgraced district attorney.<\/p>\n<p class=\"style184\">Coincidentally, Curliss cites a book I\u2019ve been reading to better understand the rigidly wrongheaded behavior of the Little Rascals prosecutors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"style184\">\u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/?p=120\">Carol Tavris<\/a>, a Los Angeles social psychologist who has researched and written about the behavior and decision-making of prosecutors, said studies show the human brain, when sorting out conflicting beliefs and actions, will engage in a powerful act known as \u2018self-justification.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"style184\">\u201cIt can keep people from admitting they are wrong and can be more powerful and more dangerous than an explicit lie, she said in an interview and in a 2007 book she co-authored, \u2018Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me)\u2019&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"style184\">\u201cSelf-justification is especially concerning in the justice system, Tavris said, because authorities often view themselves as \u2018good guys\u2019 doing the \u2018right thing\u2019&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"style184\">\u201c \u2018It&#8217;s really, really, really hard to face the reality that you screwed up,\u2019 she said. \u2018When we have a view of ourselves as good, competent, ethical, honest people and we are now confronted with evidence that we did something that was incompetent, unethical, immoral or harmful, we have two choices. We can \u2019fess up \u2013 say, \u201cOh, my God, look at this evidence, what did I do? How can I make amends?\u201d \u2013 or, we deny.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"style184\">Here\u2019s a recent public \u2019fessing up that could be a model for errant prosecutors: \u201cI want to express my sincere regret and apology&#8230;. It was a terrible mistake, and we knew it was wrong while we were doing it. Instead of getting caught up in it, I should have stopped it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"style184\">Alas, it comes not from Cline \u2013 or from H. P. Williams Jr., Bill Hart or Nancy Lamb \u2013 but from the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nola.com\/saints\/index.ssf\/2012\/03\/former_new_orleans_saints_defe_10.html\" target=\"_blank\">NFL coach<\/a>\u00a0who oversaw the \u201cbounty\u201d system for disabling opposing players.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>March 5, 2012 \u201cDURHAM &#8212; Tracey Cline could not admit she was wrong&#8230;.\u201d Thus begins\u00a0J. Andrew Curliss\u2019s latest behavioral analysis\u00a0of Durham County\u2019s latest disgraced district attorney. Coincidentally, Curliss cites a book I\u2019ve been reading to better understand the rigidly wrongheaded behavior of the Little Rascals prosecutors. \u201cCarol Tavris, a Los Angeles social psychologist who has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=413"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":416,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413\/revisions\/416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}