There is no end of examples. The first that comes to mind is the “Dear Colleague” letter around Title IX that drove colleges to replace evidence-based adjudication with deference to subjective claims and gutted due process on college campuses for over a decade.

Another is the push to eliminate standardized testing from admissions.

Or the “de-incarceration” efforts that reduce or remove jail time for extremely serious crimes.

WAIT. Do you know why de-incarceration is a program? Do you have any idea?

It’s because the evidence says overwhelmingly that incarceration is a substandard way to induce behavior change, and that removing people from incarceration and providing them with supportive skills training has a much, much higher rate of reducing recidivism and decreasing violence.

What do any of those things have to do with empathy?