BURDEN OF PROOF AND PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE: A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF THESE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES IN ANGLO-SAXON CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEMS

Аннотация

INTRODUCTION rests on the prosecution, requiring them to prove The burden of proof and the presumption of the guilt of the accused beyond a reasonable doubt. innocence are two intertwined principles that lie at This high standard is intrinsically linked to the the heart of Anglo-Saxon criminal justice systems. presumption of innocence, which dictates that an These principles are not merely procedural accused person is considered innocent until proven safeguards but fundamental human rights, guilty. Together, these principles form a enshrined in various international treaties and cornerstone of due process and the rule of law in national constitutions. They serve as crucial Anglo-Saxon legal traditions. protections against arbitrary state power and wrongful convictions, embodying the ideal that it is This paper aims to provide a comprehensive better for ten guilty persons to escape than for one review of these fundamental principles, tracing innocent person to suffer (Blackstone, 1765). their historical roots, analyzing their theoretical foundations, and examining their practical The burden of proof in criminal cases typically applications in contemporary Anglo-Saxon https://www.theamericanjournals.com/index.php/tajpslc 155 THE USA JOURNALS THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF APPLIED SCIENCES (ISSN – 2689-0992) VOLUME 06 ISSUE06 criminal justice systems. By doing so, it seeks to by the Supreme Court in Coffin v. United States contribute to the ongoing scholarly discourse on (1895), where the Court stated: "The principle that the importance of these principles and the there is a presumption of innocence in favor of the challenges they face in modern legal contexts. accused is the undoubted law, axiomatic and elementary, and its enforcement lies at the Historical Development foundation of the administration of our criminal Origins in English Common Law law." The concepts of burden of proof and presumption In the United Kingdom, while these principles were of innocence have deep roots in English common long-standing common law traditions, they gained law, which forms the basis of Anglo-Saxon legal statutory recognition in the Magistrates' Courts Act systems. While these principles were not explicitly 1952 and later in the Police and Criminal Evidence articulated in early legal texts, their essence can be Act 1984. traced back to medieval times. Theoretical Foundations Thayer (1898) argues that the presumption of Legal Philosophy innocence evolved from the broader presumption of legality in English law, which assumed that The burden of proof and presumption of innocence individuals acted lawfully unless proven otherwise. are grounded in several philosophical principles. This presumption gradually became more specific Dworkin (1985) argues that these concepts are to criminal proceedings, crystallizing into the essential to preserving human dignity and principle we recognize today. autonomy. By requiring the state to prove guilt, rather than requiring the accused to prove The burden of proof, on the other hand, developed innocence, these principles recognize the alongside the adversarial system of justice. As fundamental value of individual liberty. Langbein (2003) notes, the shift from inquisitorial to adversarial proceedings in England during the Hart (1968) posits that these principles are 16th and 17th centuries necessitated clearer rules necessary for maintaining the moral authority of about who bore the responsibility of proving guilt the criminal law. If the system regularly punished or innocence. innocent people, it would lose its claim to justice and its power to guide behavior. Enlightenment Influence Epistemological Considerations The Enlightenment period significantly influenced the development and articulation of these From an epistemological perspective, the burden of principles. Philosophers like Cesare Beccaria in his proof in criminal cases reflects the inherent seminal work "On Crimes and Punishments" difficulty of proving a negative. As Ullman-Margalit (1764) argued for a more humane and rational (1983) argues, it is often impossible for an accused approach to criminal justice, emphasizing the person to definitively prove they did not commit a importance of protecting the innocent from crime, especially for offenses alleged to have wrongful conviction. occurred in the distant past or without witnesses. Voltaire, inspired by English legal practices, The 'beyond reasonable doubt' standard, closely championed these principles in France and tied to the burden of proof, also has continental Europe. His advocacy played a crucial epistemological roots. Laudan (2006) suggests that role in spreading these ideas beyond the Anglo- this high standard reflects society's greater Saxon world (Pennington, 2003). aversion to false convictions compared to false acquittals, a preference grounded in both moral Codification and Constitutional Recognition and practical considerations. The 19th century saw the explicit codificati