Sklansky's 'Probably Guilty' article

[Steven Mason]

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

[Abbaddabba]

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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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THe saying goes that it's better to let 10 guilty men go free than to have 1 innocent man rot in prison.

It's not perfectly analogous when it comes to having a reputation. Acknowledging probable guilt at least gives the public a better chance at preventing future damages.

It's a matter of proportionality between the damages you could cause to potentially innocent people weighted by how likely they are to be innocent, against the benefit to the public in the (probable) event that person is guilty weighted by how likely they are to have commited the crime.


For something like tax fraud, it might be pointless because the government will have it on file anyways and wont need to arouse suspicion for the general public. For something that hits closer to home like molesting children, it's in the interest of the community to know if there's a person living around where the courts thought there was an 60% chance that they're producing kiddy porn in their basement. (but not likely enough to satisfy the 'beyond a shadow of a doubt criteria, or whatever is necessary to convict them of those charges).