Question
Actualizado en
30 dic 2014
- Chino simplificado
-
Inglés (US)
-
Alemán
Pregunta cerrada
Pregunta de Inglés (US)
When the defendant is acquitted in court, why the verdict uses not guilty instead of innocent?
When the defendant is acquitted in court, why the verdict uses not guilty instead of innocent?
Respuestas
30 dic 2014
Respuesta destacada
- Inglés (US)
The phrase "proven innocent" basically implies that it's necessary to prove innocence. And this is exactly the opposite of what the people who created the legal system had in mind.
When you say "proven guilty", this implies that it is necessary to prove guilt. An in the US that's the case.
Anyway, this all comes from early Roman and Islamic law. It's fairly interesting if you're into that sort of thing. :)
A bit of technical legal point - but I also agree with sparklyglitz that it is not necessary for somebody to be innocent. They can only be punished if they are found guilty of a particular crime. The standard of proof is either beyond a reasonable doubt (in criminal trials) or based on a preponderance of the evidence (in most civil trials) - but either way there is a particular threshold of guilt that has to be proved. There is no question of innocence that has to be decided.
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- Inglés (US)
- Vietnamita
- Inglés (UK) Casi fluido
I'm not a lawyer, but here's my interpretation:
Innocent means you did not do anything wrong at all.
Not guilty means there's not enough evidence to prove you're guilty.
For example, you kill someone, but you're acquitted because no one can prove that you did it. Or maybe you say that it's self- defensen. Since they cannot show that you're guilty or murder, you're "not guilty". People don't call you "innocent" because that's saying you did not do anything wrong AT ALL.
No one knows for sure if you killed someone or not. All they know is there's not enough evidence to charge you, so you're not guilty.
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- Inglés (US)
In the US the most fundamental principle of the legal system is that everybody has to be considered innocent until proven guilty. If the government wants to punish somebody for breaking the law, they are required to prove that the person is guilty.
All of the burden of proof rests with the prosecutor, who must prove the defendant is guilty. If the prosecutor succeeds, the defendant is judged to be guilty, otherwise they are judged to be not guilty.
To judge somebody "innocent" would suggest that perhaps it was the defendant's responsibility to prove themselves innocent - when in fact the fundamental principle of the legal system is that they are assumed to be innocent from the beginning.
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- Chino simplificado
Thank you both for answering my question. But according to the presumption of innocence, wouldn't it be better to use innocent or not innocent?
- Inglés (US)
The phrase "proven innocent" basically implies that it's necessary to prove innocence. And this is exactly the opposite of what the people who created the legal system had in mind.
When you say "proven guilty", this implies that it is necessary to prove guilt. An in the US that's the case.
Anyway, this all comes from early Roman and Islamic law. It's fairly interesting if you're into that sort of thing. :)
A bit of technical legal point - but I also agree with sparklyglitz that it is not necessary for somebody to be innocent. They can only be punished if they are found guilty of a particular crime. The standard of proof is either beyond a reasonable doubt (in criminal trials) or based on a preponderance of the evidence (in most civil trials) - but either way there is a particular threshold of guilt that has to be proved. There is no question of innocence that has to be decided.
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- Inglés (US)
- Vietnamita
- Inglés (UK) Casi fluido
The phrase is "innocent until proven guilty", so it means you're either innocent or guilty.
Unfortunately, it's not that simple. Innocent, like I said, means you've never done anything wrong. We can't use that because we don't know for sure that they didn't commit the crime. We just don't have the evidence.
We don't know for sure if they're innocent, but we can't prove that they committed the crime to be guilty...so we call them "not guilty".
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- Inglés (US)
Think of it like this.
You get punished if you have eaten more than 10 apples.
The prosecutor has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you ate at least 10 apples.
If they only convince the court that you ate 6 apples, the verdict would be - "Snowcreature did not eat 10 or more apples".
The verdict wouldn't be "Snowcreature definitely didn't eat any apples at all."
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- Chino simplificado
I think I get it. Innocent sounds like the defendant did nothing wrong, but not guilty means the evidence the prosecutor found is not able (or enough) to convict this person.
The reason I brought up this question is that I watched a tv series called Justice recently. The leading lawyer Ron always claims to the press that his client is innocent. So I wonder what's the difference.
Now I am clear, and I really enjoy this discussion. Thank you, sparklyglitz and snowcreature, sincerely!😊
The reason I brought up this question is that I watched a tv series called Justice recently. The leading lawyer Ron always claims to the press that his client is innocent. So I wonder what's the difference.
Now I am clear, and I really enjoy this discussion. Thank you, sparklyglitz and snowcreature, sincerely!😊
- Inglés (US)
Yeah sorry to be so long-winded.
There are two questions:
1. A language question - here the point is that in English saying "proven innocent" is a rhetorical tactic which tends to bias the conversation toward assuming that innocence must be proved. It's debate tactics 101...
2. A legal question - we already beat that dead horse to death up above...
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- Chino simplificado
by beat that dead horse to death you mean? What dead horse...?
- Inglés (US)
- Vietnamita
- Inglés (UK) Casi fluido
Beating a dead horse to death is very pointless...because it's already dead.
It's an expression. He's saying that we've already talked about the subject over and over and in such great details, we don't need to say anything more.
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- Chino simplificado
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