The Invisible Hand: How Systemic Failure Fueled Sebold's Nightmare The Sebold case is not merely an instance of police incompetence or prosecutorial zealotry; it's a symptom of a far more insidious problem: the systemic erosion of accountability in institutions tasked with upholding justice.
The Syracuse police department's failure to properly investigate Alice Sebold's rape and subsequent conviction of Anthony Broadwater raises crucial questions about the consequences of such negligence.
The detective's dismissal of Sebold's account as "inconsequential" and his swift assignment of the case to an inactive file pending further information are textbook examples of how institutions can fail victims.