Tutorial Ticket (Week 6)
Please read the article by J Reason, Beyond the Organisational Accident (6 pages) ['Beyond the Organisational Accident: the need for 'error wisdom on the frontline' (2004) 13 Quality and Safety in Health Care 28], and:
With reference to your own discipline, outline how Reason's 'Swiss cheese' model and explain how it might be useful in explaining a complex problem or situation. (150 words)
The Swiss cheese model works well in the criminal law system because there are several different organisations and hierarchies at play in bringing people to trial. I think part of the reason ‘Swiss cheese’ errors can have grave consequences is that each organisational layer is often oblivious to the cumulative effect of failure in other layers. In this way, vulnerable people such as the homeless may not be afforded the appropriate protections against wrongful conviction.
The police have their own procedures to ensure legal and just investigations, but also have caseload pressures reducing their ‘envelope’ of valid actions. The adversarial legal system theoretically ensures that every case is argued on its merits by hearing both sides. However, vulnerable people are less likely to actively and successfully secure the resources of Legal Aid and the like. Finally, juries are an important defensive layer against wrongful conviction by ensuring a person’s actions are judged by their peers. However, there is a disconnect between the legal arguments made in a court and the jury’s lay understanding of the rights and wrongs of an alleged crime.
The police have their own procedures to ensure legal and just investigations, but also have caseload pressures reducing their ‘envelope’ of valid actions. The adversarial legal system theoretically ensures that every case is argued on its merits by hearing both sides. However, vulnerable people are less likely to actively and successfully secure the resources of Legal Aid and the like. Finally, juries are an important defensive layer against wrongful conviction by ensuring a person’s actions are judged by their peers. However, there is a disconnect between the legal arguments made in a court and the jury’s lay understanding of the rights and wrongs of an alleged crime.