It is a very human trait to stick with a choice once made, even if the information that led to that decision turns out to be faulty and the decision itself no longer makes sense. Loss of face, stubbornness, a refusal (subconscious or not) to admit our own fallibility, for any one person there can be plenty of reasons to stick with a faulty decision.

But what always puzzles me in these horrific accounts of abuse by a system is how all the people that are part of it somehow allow for this human trait to seep into the system itself. What goes on in their minds? Is it something to do with a fear of unjustly triggering a series of (costly) events that might exonerate an innocent man? A fear of personal consequences in case they proved guilty after all? Or is it simply always someone else's problem — even if you were the governor himself?