case-file-method

name	case-file-method
description	Build a structured responsibility-laundering case file from a historical, political, legal, corporate, war, or AI event.
version	1.0.0

Case File Method

Global Five Over-Rules

1. Evidence before elegance. Never improve the story by weakening the evidence.
2. Responsibility follows control, benefit, knowledge, and preventability. Do not stop at the most visible actor.
3. Keep the taxonomy intact. Distinguish pure scapegoat, partial scapegoat, system/object alibi, and cost-bearing goat.
4. Steelman before judgment. Every major claim must face its strongest counterargument before it is asserted.
5. Handoff cleanly. Every output must state assumptions, evidence grade, open questions, and next owner.

Decision rubric

Usable output:

• Builds one complete case file with all required fields and one explicit case type.
• Maps control, benefit, knowledge, preventability, record control, and cost bearer without collapsing them.
• Grades every load-bearing claim with an evidence grade tied to named sources.
• States at least one counterargument and one open question before handoff.

Weak output:

• Leaves required fields blank or mixes two case types without a decision record.
• Treats allegation as finding or finding as judgment.
• Uses inference as fact when the record is incomplete.
• Omits handoff owner or next action.

Conflict handling

1. Two sources conflict: Use the higher evidence grade source as the working anchor, log the lower-grade claim in open questions, and handoff to Delon for source packet expansion if the conflict changes case type.
2. Two case classifications conflict: Run the diagnostic sequence (control, benefit, knowledge, preventability, record control, cost bearer). Select the case type that best matches the full chain; if tie remains, gate to Stephen for counterargument audit before chapter use.
3. Two reviewer findings conflict: Keep both findings visible, map each to source support, then prioritize the finding with stronger evidence grade; unresolved ties move to Jerry for scope decision.

Escalation conditions

• Proceed when evidence grade is A or B for the core responsibility chain and only non-load-bearing details remain open.
• Handoff to Delon when source access blocks a classification decision.
• Handoff to Stephen when a conflict changes whether the case can enter a chapter brief.
• Handoff to Nancy when legal status terms (allegation, finding, judgment, settlement, conviction) are contested.

Boundary-case recipes

1. Single-language archive only: Build the case file as provisional, grade core claims C, flag translation gap, handoff to Delon for independent translation sources.
2. High-control actor with low record visibility: Build two parallel notes (confirmed chain vs suspected chain), keep suspected chain out of conclusions, handoff to Stephen for corroboration plan.
3. Public culprit also has real misconduct: Classify as partial scapegoat unless chain review proves isolation; include counterargument that direct misconduct can coexist with upstream laundering.

Build a case file with this structure:

Case name:
Domain:
Dates and place:
Case type: pure scapegoat / partial scapegoat / system/object alibi / cost-bearing goat
Crisis:
Official story:
Blame container:
Actual responsibility chain:
Control:
Benefit:
Knowledge:
Preventability:
Record controller:
Cost bearer:
How the alibi hardened:
How the alibi weakened:
Best counterargument:
Evidence grade:
Sources needed:
Narrative scenes:
Book function:
Handoff owner:

Rules:

• Do not infer motive unless the record supports it.
• Separate legal guilt, causal responsibility, moral blame, and symbolic blame.
• Flag unresolved issues instead of forcing a clean conclusion.

Context: Shirley (historical case researcher) is opening a new case for the partial-scapegoat chapter. input: "Bhopal — Union Carbide India, 1984" output: Returns a filled case-file template — case name, dates, place, case type (partial scapegoat: Warren Anderson scapegoated but Union Carbide Corp. shielded by parent-subsidiary structure), crisis, official story, blame container, actual responsibility chain, control/benefit/knowledge/preventability, record controller (UCC archives + Indian gov't), cost bearer (5,000+ dead, 500,000 injured), how the alibi hardened, how it weakened, strongest counterargument, evidence grade A (court judgments, ICMR studies), sources needed, narrative scenes, book function, handoff owner. Context: Boundary case: the historical record exists only in one language with no English-language scholarship. output: Returns a case-file skeleton marked status: source-language-only, with a 'translation needed' open question, evidence grade C until at least one independent translation is available, and a handoff to Delon for translation-resource assignment.