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The headstone of Timothy Evans, who was wrongfully convicted and executed for two murders that had been committed by his neighbour John Christie. A miscarriage of justice occurs when an unfair outcome occurs in a criminal or civil proceeding, [1] such as the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. [2]
Nowadays, juries can return a verdict of either "not guilty" or "not proven", with the same legal effect of acquittal. [6] Although historically it may be a similar verdict to not guilty, in the present day not proven is typically used by a jury when there is a belief that the defendant is guilty but The Crown has not provided sufficient ...
A false allegation of child sexual abuse is an accusation that a person committed one or more acts of child sexual abuse when in reality there was no perpetration of abuse by the accused person as alleged. Such accusations can be brought by the victim, or by another person on the alleged victim's behalf.
A false confession is an admission of guilt for a crime which the individual did not commit. Although such confessions seem counterintuitive, they can be made voluntarily, perhaps to protect a third party, or induced through coercive interrogation techniques.
Over time, juries have tended to favour the "not guilty" verdict over "not proven" and so the interpretation has changed. The "not guilty" verdict has become the normal verdict when a jury is convinced of innocence, and the "not proven" verdict is used only if the jury is not certain of innocence or guilt. [citation needed]
One of her freedom of information requests revealed that in recent years non-harassment orders had been imposed in less than 50% of domestic abuse cases or offences where domestic abuse was a factor.
The presumption of innocence is a legal principle that every person accused of any crime is considered innocent until proven guilty. Under the presumption of innocence, the legal burden of proof is thus on the prosecution , which must present compelling evidence to the trier of fact (a judge or a jury ).
The abuse defense is "the legal tactic by which criminal defendants claim a history of abuse as an excuse for violent retaliation". [2] In some instances, such as the Bobbitt trial, the supposed abuse occurs shortly before the retaliative act; in such cases, the abuse excuse is raised as a means of claiming temporary insanity or the right of self-defense.