Italian scientists sentenced to jail for being “too reassuring” before deadly earthquake

Bernardo de Bernardinis in court

Science on trial, conviction edition: After being accused of providing false reassurance about the risks of a deadly earthquake right before a large one struck L’Aquila, Italy and resulted in heavy casualties, the scientists responsible have now had their day in court – and lost:

Six Italian scientists and an ex-government official have been sentenced to six years in prison over the 2009 deadly earthquake in L'Aquila.

A regional court found them guilty of multiple manslaughter.

Prosecutors said the defendants gave a falsely reassuring statement before the quake, while the defence maintained there was no way to predict major quakes.

The 6.3 magnitude quake devastated the city and killed 309 people.

This is asinine. As tragic as the disaster was, the idea that scientists should be punished – much less imprisoned – for failing to describe the exact date, location and size of the next earthquake is complete lunacy, and that it’s actually come to pass should be singularly enough to destroy anyone’s trust in the Italian judicial system. And even worse is the fact that not only didn’t the scientists actually do anything wrong, they never even made the “falsely reassuring statement” in the first place, as it was instead pronounced by former VP of the Civil Protection Agency, Bernardo de Bernardinis. In it, he actually misrepresented the scientists’ opinions, as they had actually told him that risks were low, but still very much present, contrary to his subsequent declaration that everyone was perfectly safe.

If anyone ought to be punished, it should be de Bernardinis and him alone, as he’s the official who put words in the experts’ mouths in order to cover his own ass. As it stands, six perfectly capable and innocent individuals are being thrown behind bars not only for a crime they never committed, but for failing to do something that’s absolutely impossible with our current equipment and know-how. It’s a sickening outrage.

(via @BadAstronomer)

Daily Blend: Monday, October 01, 2012

Jack Wu [source]

The king always feels he is being wronged when the starving peasants rise up and oust him from his throne. #MaleDecline

Stephanie Coontz at The New York Times destroys the myth that men are being treated as inferior to women in this modern society. I wonder if I’ll receiving some more amusing anti-feminist attempts to refute established facts in my Twitter @mentions feed.
(via atheismplus | Reddit)

Massive earthquakes in Indonesia signal the impending break-up of the Indo-Australian tectonic plate … over the next few million years.
(via The Daily Grail)

“If you're mainstream, you're going to hell”: Westboro Baptist Church attendee ^[pictured] runs for Kansas Board of Education seat.
(via @BadAstronomer)

Australia’s ABC program Media Watch rips into WIN News’s false-balance-driven promulgation of “vaccines cause autism” garbage from Meryl Dorey from the antivax Australian Vaccination Network.
(via @BadAstronomer)

And finally, the Discovery Channel is set to embarrass itself again, this time with an ode to the U.S.’s gun craze hosted by reactionary flywheel Ted Nugent.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: Stephanie Coontz • men • women • male decline • tectonic plates • Indo-Australian plate • earthquakes • Jack Wu • Westboro Baptist Church • Topeka, KS • Kansas State Board of Education • ABC News • Media Watch • WIN News • Meryl Dorey • Australian Vaccination Network • AVN • Discovery Channel • Ted Nugent • Ted Nugent's Gun Country