Innocent

Innocent until proven guilty is one of those nice things we like to say without really thinking it through. Daily somewhere in the country someone considered a flight risk is held in jail before they have been tried. In the minds of people if someone is accused there is probable cause of guilt. When all the dust settles if the persons if found not guilty the person is still guilty in the minds of many. The judgment of public opinion is often different than the judgment of the court and actually favors the accuser over the accused. Today there was a law professor who said that in a case of he says, she says, if the argument ends in the middle then she wins. When prominent figures are accused of some misdoing they are tarred for life regardless of the outcome. In the press it is common to see the accusation on the front page and the retraction in the back and this adds to the misconception of guilt. If an ordinary citizen is accused of child molesting and later found innocent his reputation is damaged regardless. This represents the dark side of human nature.