It wasn't long ago that people were wrongly imprisoned and even sent to death on a regular basis, and even now with all our advancements there are so many innocent people in prison, their lives and their liberties taken from them wrongfully.
“It is better that ten guilty go free than one innocent suffer.”
This is the philosophy we have used to shape our modern day system. As Americans we are asserted basic human rights and freedoms. As citizens we have demanded a system that will protect us from suffering personal injustice.
Search warrants, evidence collection procedures, Miranda rights, these are but a few examples of policies put in place to protect ourselves. We all want to feel safe that our civil liberties will not be violated.
Burden of proof is essential to maintaining this system. It is always the prosecutions job to prove without a doubt the guilt of the defendant. Burden of proof is evidence, and testimony and not just innuendos, accusations, and speculations. The public loves to speculate but if there is no proof there is no legal justification to the proceedings. If a jury were to ignore the lack of evidence and convict on a 'gut feeling' the conviction would be overturned in appeal.
And thats the rub, America, you can't have it both ways. The same laws that protect the innocent, protect the guilty. We either all have rights, or none of us do.
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