The Last Word
Guilty Until Proven Innocent

Guilty Until Proven Innocent

Imagine being accused of rape, and rather than the state having to prove you guilty, you had to prove your innocence. Would you think that fair? U.S. law is moving in that direction. ...
Steve Byas

From the print edition of The New American

The purpose behind protecting the rights of the accused is not to protect the guilty, but instead to protect the innocent. After all, when a person is found guilty, he will be punished.

In the movie about the famed 16th-century English statesman Thomas More, A Man for All Seasons, More’s wife and daughter want a man arrested because he is “bad.” While More agrees he is a bad man, he insists the man should remain free until he breaks a law, even “if he were the devil himself.” At this point, a man named William Roper challenges More, “So, now you give the Devil the benefit of the law!”

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