Here's my scenario, in the US:
A college student writes a research paper and publishes it (in some public but non-peer-reviewed venue). The paper is very convincing, but because of an issue with the way the data was collected, the results are wrong. The paper is cited in congressional debates about a new piece of federal legislation and is one of several factors that contribute to getting this new bill passed. The new law leads to the creation of a new industry; the student starts an extremely profitable business in that industry.
Has the student committed a crime, in any of these three variations?
1. She planned the whole thing from the start, falsifying her data as part of a complicated scheme to influence federal legislation and then profit from it.
2. She made an innocent mistake when collecting her data. She discovered the issue after her paper was published, but before Congress voted on the new bill. She made no attempt to publicly acknowledge or correct her mistake.
3. She made an innocent mistake when collecting her data and didn't discover it until after the bill was passed.
I'm hoping to find a scenario in which the student has made an innocent mistake, but people suspect that she's committed a serious crime.
A college student writes a research paper and publishes it (in some public but non-peer-reviewed venue). The paper is very convincing, but because of an issue with the way the data was collected, the results are wrong. The paper is cited in congressional debates about a new piece of federal legislation and is one of several factors that contribute to getting this new bill passed. The new law leads to the creation of a new industry; the student starts an extremely profitable business in that industry.
Has the student committed a crime, in any of these three variations?
1. She planned the whole thing from the start, falsifying her data as part of a complicated scheme to influence federal legislation and then profit from it.
2. She made an innocent mistake when collecting her data. She discovered the issue after her paper was published, but before Congress voted on the new bill. She made no attempt to publicly acknowledge or correct her mistake.
3. She made an innocent mistake when collecting her data and didn't discover it until after the bill was passed.
I'm hoping to find a scenario in which the student has made an innocent mistake, but people suspect that she's committed a serious crime.