The Presumption of Innocence , sometimes referred to by the Latin expression Ei incumbit probatio qui dicit, non qui negat ( the burden of proof is on he/she who declares, not on he/she who denies ), is the principle that one is considered innocent until proven guilty. You wont find it in the Constitution of the United States, its an old Roman Law, initially derived from the Athenian Greeks. Most people confuse the intent of the Eighth Amendment! The Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that excessive bail shall not be required, but it is widely accepted that governments have the right to detain through trial a defendant of a serious crime who is a flight risk or poses a danger to the public. In such cases the presumption of innocence is largely theoretical. According to the U.S. Supreme Court, the presumption of the innocence of a criminal defendant is best described as an assumption of innocence that is indulged in the absence of contrary evidence ( Taylor v. Kentucky, 436 U.S. 478, 98 S. Ct. 1930, 56 L. Ed. 2d 468 [1978] ). It is not considered evidence of the defendants innocence, and it does not require that a mandatory inference favorable to the defendant be drawn from any facts in evidence. The Supreme Court has ruled that, under some circumstances, a court should issue jury instructions on the presumption of innocence in addition to instructions on the requirement of proof beyond a reasonable doubt (Taylor v. Kentucky). A presumption of innocence instruction may be required if the jury is in danger of convicting the defendant on the basis of extraneous considerations rather than the facts of the case. Thus, application of this principle is a legal right of the accused in a criminal trial, recognised in many nations. The burden of proof is thus on the prosecution, which has to collect and present enough compelling evidence to convince the trier of fact, who is restrained and ordered by law to consider only actual evidence and testimony that is legally admissible, and in most cases lawfully obtained, that the accused is guilty beyond reasonable doubt. If reasonable doubt remains, the accused is to be acquitted. Now, the fact that 97% of all Federal cases pursued by the Department of Justice last year were resolved by guilty pleas is a disgrace and it should frighten all Americans interested in justice!!! We know that innocent people routinely plead guilty, indeed, in the current American justice system, pleading guilty is usually the most rational action an innocent person can take. The expense, the stress, and the lost time incurred by a person who actually wants to exercise his Constitutional right to defend himself, plus the draconian sentencing penalty applied to any person who goes to trial and loses, is overwhelming. The Enron cases are replete with examples of innocent people pleading guilty. The Wall Street Journal published an excellent article a few months ago titled, “ Academic Study Shows Innocent Plead Guilty at High Rate ” which helps to show the seriousness of the problem. In the study highlighted in that article, 55% of the innocent people plead guilty when faced with situations designed to replicate those faced by criminal defendants. I suspect that this number is actually low because the stress of people actually facing a real criminal indictment is much more intense than anything that can be replicated in a study. But even if the rate is was only 55%, it means that most innocent people plead guilty. Think about that, most innocent criminal defendants in the USA falsely plead guilty!!! This basically means that plea deals are worthless as an indicator of guilt or innocence. They tell us nothing except that the prosecutors have coerced another plea deal. There are dozens of problems with the American criminal justice system; however, if you have the energy to support just one reform, I recommend you spend it on the elimination of plea bargaining!
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 22:18:12 +0000
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