The apple defense
When a scandal breaks, the first statement says a few people did it. The investigation that follows looks at the organization.
Scholars call the first account "bad apples": "an image of a few reprehensible individuals who, if removed, will no longer contaminate the otherwise healthy apples" Exhibit 1253. The research literature tests it against two others, the features of the situation and the organization's environment Exhibit 1167.
Abu Ghraib
In May 2004, the Secretary of Defense and the President described the abuse of detainees as the conduct of a few. Independent and Army investigations followed in the same year.
What was said
It's important for the American people and the world to know that while these terrible acts were perpetrated by a small number of U.S. military, they were also brought to light by the honorable and responsible actions of other military personnel.
What the record shows
Still, the abuses were not just the failure of some individuals to follow known standards, and they are more than the failure of a few leaders to enforce proper discipline. There is both institutional and personal responsibility at higher levels.
What was said
That same prison became a symbol of disgraceful conduct by a few American troops who dishonored our country and disregarded our values.
What the record shows
While those who perpetrated the criminal acts are individually responsible, the command climate, unclear command structure, and insufficient training created an environment conducive to the commission of these offenses.
The investigations also held individuals responsible, and the independent panel found no evidence of a policy of abuse promulgated by senior officials or military authorities Exhibit 1243. A third investigation, by Fay and Jones, listed systemic problems alongside individual culpability Exhibit 1245.
Wells Fargo
In September 2016 the bank's chief executive testified to the Senate Banking Committee. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau had found that the bank set sales goals and incentives, and that it had terminated roughly 5,300 employees for improper sales practices Exhibit 1207. The bank consented to the order without admitting or denying the findings.
What was said
I do want to make very clear that there was no orchestrated effort, or scheme as some have called it, by the company.
What the record shows
There was a disinclination among the Community Bank's senior leadership, regardless of the scope of improper behavior or the number of terminated employees, to see the problem as systemic.
The directors' report states that the root cause of the sales-practice failures was the distortion of the Community Bank's sales culture and performance management system. It also states that the Community Bank's senior leaders blamed individual employees.
News of the World
In 2007, a House of Commons committee investigated phone hacking after the convictions of a reporter and a private investigator. In oral evidence, the chairman of News International told the committee he believed the reporter was the only person who knew Exhibit 1249.
What was reported in 2007
Witnesses representing the press maintained that such practices were not, however, widespread, and that one bad apple did not mean that the whole barrel was rotten.
What the committee found in 2010
The idea that Clive Goodman was a "rogue reporter" acting alone is also directly contradicted by the Judge who presided at the Goodman and Mulcaire trial.
The committee's 2010 report states that the evidence made it inconceivable that no one else at the newspaper knew about the hacking, and that the newspaper's inquiries were far from full or rigorous Exhibit 1250.
The Los Angeles Police Department
After the March 1991 beating of Rodney King, the police chief called it an aberration Exhibit 1251. The independent commission appointed to investigate reported in July.
What the chief said, as the commission recorded it
Chief Gates also described the incident as an aberration and expressed his hope that the public would not judge the entire Department on this one case.
What the record shows
The LAPD's failure to analyze and act upon these revealing data evidences a significant breakdown in the management and leadership of the Department.
The commission also found that complaints about force were concentrated in a small group of officers, and that management failed to act on the department's own data on them Exhibit 1252.
What the records show
In each case the statement is a claim about cause: a few individuals. In each case the investigators looked at the organization and reported findings there, in command climate, incentives, management and the institution's own response.
Individuals were held responsible in these records. The findings do not clear them. They add the structure.
Removing the individuals answers the statement. It does not answer the finding. Replace the People shows what the record looks like when the people are replaced and the result stays.