My estimate of how ethical it is for a prosecutor to propose theory X about a defendant’s motive increases with how common X is, and decreases with how sensational X is. Roommates arguing over cleaning an apartment is both more common and less sensational than satanic rituals, so my estimates of how ethical it is to propose those theories differs.
Of course, maybe there’s some particularly salient threshold that both examples exceed. If so, it’s worth articulating that threshold explicitly… when it comes to propounding theories about motive, it’s not clear to me what that threshold is or ought to be.
I’m not sure I would agree with this, FWIW.
My estimate of how ethical it is for a prosecutor to propose theory X about a defendant’s motive increases with how common X is, and decreases with how sensational X is. Roommates arguing over cleaning an apartment is both more common and less sensational than satanic rituals, so my estimates of how ethical it is to propose those theories differs.
Of course, maybe there’s some particularly salient threshold that both examples exceed. If so, it’s worth articulating that threshold explicitly… when it comes to propounding theories about motive, it’s not clear to me what that threshold is or ought to be.