Italian scientists convicted on failure to predict earthquake

[strigori]

That is just crazy unbelievable. Unfortunately I see indications that is where we are headed in this country. Hot coffee lawsuits, people suing the theatre chain in the Colorado Dark Night tragedy etc. Are we really that far off from holding our scientists accountable in the same way as this Italian case? I would like to think it will never come to that but there are new head shakers everyday.

The main difference is the law suits like hot coffee are civil, only resulting in monetary damages and only requiring a "preponderance of the evidence" meaning 51% sure the defendant is guilty. And the Italian case is criminal, meaning jail time and all sorts of other bad things that go with felonies, and requires "Beyond a reasonable doubt" meaning 100% sure the defendant is guilty. In this country at least, Italy I don't think has that stringent of a burden of proof, as instanced if you payed any attention to the American girl who was charged with murdering her room mate (I can't remember the name)