The Seven Deadly Sins of Forensic Crime Solving

Pete Gagliardi recently posted this excellent essay on the ethics of working cases. Here's a sample: "So what makes the difference between good folks in this business and bad ones? I submit to you that it’s this difference that determines success and failure.

Recently, I read an article discussing the Seven Deadly Sins and it got me thinking how they would apply in forensic crime solving operations.

Here goes: Agree? Disagree? Other?

The Seven Deadly Sins of Forensic Crime Solving Operations:

• Lust - Empire building - focusing on status, power and authority instead of serving the public.
• Gluttony - Pursuing and acquiring resources then not using them to their fullest crime solving potential.
• Greed - Refusal to form partnerships and alliances to share data, technology and resources.
• Sloth – A failure to make use of all the tools in the crime solving tool box – a failure to understand the meaning of “duty bound”.
• Wrath – Actions taken or actions withheld because of anger toward a particular person or agency.
• Envy - Rejecting proven best practices because you did not design them.
• Pride – An expert “I know best” mentality preventing collaboration with stakeholders to find a better way.

The more serious the crime is, the more these seven deadly sins stand in the way of justice. Unlike the man at the liquor store who had been shot in the head yet lived to tell about it, murder victims can no longer speak for themselves, so society must speak for those who have lost their voices. It’s a responsibility as old as the bible which tells us to: Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute - Proverbs 31:8"