Do We Still Believe in Innocent Until Proven Guilty?
Everybody deserves the benefit of the doubt. The United States criminal legal system seems to be built with this in mind. Everyone is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. So why is it ok for them to be guilty until proven innocent in the court of public opinion?
Much of the talk I’ve heard in the media when dealing with high profile stories over the last few years seems to side with the accused even before any proceedings (whether it be an investigation, trial, hearing, etc.). Whether it’s a contested election or an athlete’s actions or anything else, shouldn’t we be assuming the subject of accusations is innocent until proven guilty?
I’m not saying to silent the accusers. The accusers certainly need to be given an opportunity to tell their story and submit any corroborating evidence of their accusations. They should be given every opportunity to confront those they are accusing with whatever it is they are alleging the accused has done.
There are also cases of multiple accusers. While I believe that where there is smoke there is very likely fire (even if the fire is just the accused putting themselves in a situation where it could even be alleged they are guilty of something even if they’re not), I still believe we, as a society, need to view the accused with just as much open mindedness as we do the accusers.
I’m obviously not talking about a cases where there are multiple witnesses to corroborate the claims of the accuser. Yes, even in those cases the accused needs to be proven guilty in a court of law. But it is certainly understandable for the court of public opinion to make a judgement in such cases.
I’m not talking about a single case so please don’t get me wrong an accuse me of being judgmental for or against a specific instance you think I may be talking about. I just see a trend that I find a bit troublesome.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.