An example, I'm afraid, of situations that happen all too often around the world. When we look at the justice system as any other abstract system (with positive/negative feedback loops) we find that the actors (the judges, prosecutors, investigators, etc.) are never rewarded for finding <i>the</i> truth. After all, how can you ever know that you found the truth? They are rewarded for finding <i>a</i> truth. For making the picture fit.<p>And that is why you should never collaborate with (or trust) the system. They aren't interested in what's good for you, they are interested in what's good for themselves: finding someone to convict and thereby pushing their yearly evaluation into the positives.<p>[ed.: typo]
The woman involved, Erla Bolladottir, was my Icelandic language teacher when I moved to Iceland. She is an extraordinarily kind and helpful person, and it angers and saddens me that she has been put through this nightmare because of lousy police-work and ill will.
<i>"Geirfinnur Einarsson may have shared the same surname as Gudmundur but the two were not related."</i><p>Very minor nitpick. "Einarsson" is a patronymic derived from a parent's <i>given</i> name, not a surname or family name as is common in many western cultures. In the case of the article, Einar is a common Icelandic given name [1] that both victims fathers shared.<p>The Icelandic naming system [2] is interesting. Basically, children get a given name plus a patronymic (father's give name with <i>son</i> or <i>dóttir</i> suffix) or matronymic (mother's given name with <i>son</i> or <i>dóttir</i> suffix). So people two generations apart in the same family have completely different names, and non-siblings having the same patronymic isn't an indicator of kinship.<p>[1] <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einar" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einar</a><p>[2] <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_name" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_name</a>
People confess to crimes they didn't commit all the time, yet confessions are the end game in most judicial systems, way over hard proofs... A very sad state of affairs...<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/opinion/sunday/why-do-innocent-people-confess.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0" rel="nofollow">http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/opinion/sunday/why-do-inno...</a><p>And obligatory, Jame's Duane's "Don't talk to the cops" <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkZf6_jK3Zs" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkZf6_jK3Zs</a>
I heard of this case growing up and it has always been considered a mystery in Iceland. I haven't followed it closely but this is the best write up of the case I've seen; impressive work by BBC.<p>While I'm not defending the investigators, a lot has changed in 40 years and even though this might be unacceptable today it was probably different then (as stated in the article). It's very sad to listen to these people talk about how they were treated though.
What a story. So many lives wasted, torture and forced confessions. There are no reparations possible for cases like this, no amount of compensation will turn back the clock and no punishment sufficient to go after the guilty parties (in uniform, no less), assuming they are still alive.<p>But when you read things like this you inevitably question if what we call 'civilization' really is all that civilized. Iceland is a small nation, relatively few people and tightly knit. It's one of the last places on earth where I would expect a thing like this to happen.<p>If this could happen there it could happen just about anywhere.<p>And they are <i>still</i> at it (from TFA):<p>"For the past year, the 486-page report of the investigation into the original police inquiry has been sitting on a desk somewhere inside the state prosecutor’s office. She has to decide whether the case should be referred to Iceland’s supreme court so the convictions can be quashed."
Frontline has an excellent episode on the Norfolk Four, a similar case that happened in Virginia: <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/the-confessions/" rel="nofollow">http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/the-confessions/</a>
In good HN spirit, instead of praising the great quality of the article, I'll point out a minor nitpick:<p>> Geirfinnur Einarsson may have shared the same surname as Gudmundur but the two were not related.<p>Einarsson is not a surname, but a patronymic. It's weird that later in the article it reads:<p>> Erla is longing for peace, so that future generations, the sons and dottirs of her grandchildren will know she was innocent and didn’t take part in a murder.<p>Here the author seems to grasp and even make a clever pun on Icelandic patronymics. Weird.
I would love to have my favorite book, "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan recreated in this same web layout. In fact, why AREN'T online books like this?
This is one more reason why police and prosecutors should be individually bonded. This would pay, up front, for liability, and it would wash out the careless and incompetent.<p>Without institutional incentives to produce good results, the incentives to produce more results, faster results, and more lurid results will continue to produce bad results.
God, this makes me so sad. Being persuaded into admitting guilt to a crime that you have no idea about sounds bizaare but I am sure this case wasn't the last.
For a truly amazing look into how false confessions occur -- told from the point of view of an officer who inadvertently extracted one, and took over a decade to recognise his error -- act one of this This American Life episode is a must-listen:<p><a href="http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/507/confessions" rel="nofollow">http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/507/c...</a>