Sklansky's 'Probably Guilty' article

[Cloodie]

Just had a quick glance at it and we actually have such a verdict in trials over here. It's called 'Not Proven' rather than 'Porbably Guilty' and it has always been pretty ocntroversial.

[Poker Clif]

[ QUOTE ]
Just had a quick glance at it and we actually have such a verdict in trials over here. It's called 'Not Proven' rather than 'Porbably Guilty' and it has always been pretty ocntroversial.

[/ QUOTE ]

Where is "over here"?

[Cloodie]

Scotland.

Btw that terrible spelling was due to rushed typing rather than a poor grasp of the English language [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[southerndog]

I really liked this article. Great points, David!

[Dr_Jeckyl_00]

What about an innocent person being acquited, but labelled as "probably guilty"? While this is not as bad as a conviction, this label will surely make his life extremely difficult as if he was guilty. The stigma of this label (if public) could likely result in discrimination in employment, owning a home, even trying to have a relationship.

Don't get me wrong, I don't like the idea of setting a guilty person free, giving them a chance to do harm again.

I would think that a "probably guilty" acquital would need to be classified, and from the public's point of view it would need to be considered a pure acquital. The acquited person should not have to disclose the qualification. The tracking device would really be just a deterant incase he was actually guilty. And of course any person with knowledge of "probably guilty" verdict would have to keep the verdict confidential or face jail time. Although I doubt a courtroom full of people, especially victim's friends/family could keep this confidential. So it seems that an innocent person would likely receive this label under your proposal.

I am not sure how I feel about your proposal, there are pros and cons, but I seem to be more concerned about the cons I pointed out...

[Cloodie]

Here's a link to a newspaper report on a court case involving the 'not proven' verdict.

http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=287052005

[PLOlover]

[ QUOTE ]
What about an innocent person being acquited, but labelled as "probably guilty"? While this is not as bad as a conviction, this label will surely make his life extremely difficult as if he was guilty. The stigma of this label (if public) could likely result in discrimination in employment, owning a home, even trying to have a relationship.

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we already have this in the US, they are called restraining orders and they are civil law so the defendant does not have as many rights.

[Cloodie]

Most countries probably have a restraining order by some name or another.

[Steven Mason]

probably not

[Steven Mason]

what is going on in the world? is everyone high?