The decision of an Italian court to hold several scientists accountable for deaths caused by the L'Aquila earthquake (Nature 490, 446; 2012) is indicative of flaws in the sensitive, but indispensable, relationship between science and politics.

Implicating a scientific advisory committee in the death of so many people in L'Aquila reflects troubling tendencies in modern Western governance: Italy seems to have made scientists co-responsible for governing the country. The court's decision might also deflect attention away from the failures of the democratic institutions responsible for dealing with the aftermath of the earthquake.

Such defects can be corrected only through recognizing the democratic accountability of government as well as the science it enlists for policy-making.