INNOCENCE LOST: Which Constitutional Right is Most at Risk?
In a quiet moment, the idea of taking a highly scientific poll on the twitters seemed like a good idea. So I did. My question, Which Constitutional Right is Most at Risk? 52% said the Presumption of Innocence.
Not only do people no longer subscribe to the principle that people are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, but they’re remarkably proud of their feelings. It’s not just that we’ve succumbed to our base, visceral feelings about unproven guilt, but that smart people announce it in their stentorian voice as if it’s a matter of pride that they believe in the guilt of someone as yet unconvicted, for whom not an iota of evidence has been proffered. They demand their right to believe in other people’s guilt. They demand their right to announce their belief in other people’s guilt.
The presumption of innocence is not just a foundational tenet of our jurisprudence, mandated by reason (you can’t prove a negative) and policy (the burden is on the state). but a principle to which we used to aspire, hard as it was to get over our gut feelings that someone was, well, guilty….Yet, as we’ve learned from death row exonerations where nearly everyone was absolutely certain that the accused was guilty, it’s not necessarily so. No, that doesn’t prove them innocent, but that’s not how our principles work. Once the presumption of innocence is gone, the rest of due process doesn’t really matter all that much.
blog.simplejustice-Scott H. Greenfield
