Think our justice system is screwy? Six Italian scientists have just been convicted of manslaughter [View all]

[pnwmom]

for failing to predict an earthquake.

After a series of minor tremors, they correctly said that the tremors didn't necessarily mean that any larger earthquake would be forthcoming, that minor tremors were common in that part of Italy -- but then the "big one" occurred sometime later. They've each been sentenced to 6 years in prison and seismologists around the world are in an uproar.

Some of the locals who filed civil suits said they wanted to send "a message that they want more and better information about possible future quakes." (WHO WOULDN'T??? But it's not the fault of these seismologists that the science hasn't developed to that point yet.)

As with Amanda Knox, these scientists have been convicted in the first level of trials in Italy, and two levels of appeals will follow. Statistically, there is approximately a 50% likelihood that this conviction will be overturned in the first appeal, which is what happened with Knox's case. (She's still waiting for the outcome of the second level appeal because the prosecution is disputing the outcome of the first appeal. )

What a nightmare for these poor scientists.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57537288/italian-scientists-convicted-for-not-warning-about-deadly-2009-quake/

Scientists worldwide had decried the trial as ridiculous, contending that science has no reliable way of predicting earthquakes.

"This trial has raised huge concerns within the scientific community because here you have a number of scientists, who are simply doing their job, being prosecuted for criminal manslaughter, and I think that scares all of us who are involved in risk communication," professor Tom Jordan, director of the Southern California Earthquake Center, told CBS News.

Among those convicted were some of Italy's most prominent and internationally respected seismologists and geological experts, including Enzo Boschi, former head of the national Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology.

"I am dejected, desperate," Boschi said after the verdict. "I thought I would have been acquitted. I still don't understand what I was convicted of."

SNIP