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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 ).
In Director of Public Prosecutions v.Labavarde and Anor, Neerunjun C.J. said that article 11(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 6(2) of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms would be infringed if "the whole burden is ... cast on the defence by the creation of a presumption of guilt on the mere preferment of the criminal charge".
The innocent prisoner's dilemma, or parole deal, is a detrimental effect of a legal system in which admission of guilt can result in reduced sentences or early parole. When an innocent person is wrongly convicted of a crime, legal systems which need the individual to admit guilt — as, for example, a prerequisite step leading to parole ...
Volokh considers two criminal cases in which the defense told the jury "that no innocent person should be convicted and that it is better that many guilty go unpunished than one innocent person be convicted" as references to a Blackstone's ratio with values of both "infinite" and "many" guilty men to an innocent one. [34]
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]
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 "not guilty" finding is generally considered an acquittal, but there is a subtle difference between the two. A defendant found "not guilty" is not legally answerable for the criminal charge filed. An acquittal is when a judge or jury finds a defendant "not guilty" of the crime charged. [6] "Not guilty" also refers to a type of plea in a ...
Istishab, an initiative of ash-Shafii, [4] is the rationalistic principle of extracting a legal solution according to which changes are not considered to occur until clear signs of these changes are apparent. It serves as the basis for many legal rulings such as the presumption of innocence—the person is regarded as innocent unless proven guilty.