Скачать или смотреть Which standard of proof is required in all criminal cases? Criminal Law Solicitors Cork Ireland

Which standard of proof is required in all criminal cases?

The standard of proof in criminal cases is beyond a reasonable doubt.
This sometimes confuses people.

It doesn’t mean that there can be no doubt; it just means that there can be no ‘reasonable’ doubt.
That leads on to the next question: what is a reasonable doubt?

People sometimes assume that the law can be condensed into some sort of mathematical formula where a mixture of two elements yields a consistent result. This is not so.

Humans are not similar and react in different ways under the same conditions over time.
In law certain things still exist.

Those things have always existed and are not to be abandoned just because we have ventured into the field of law. One of those things is common sense.

You have common sense. You use it every day to help you make decisions; about whether to buy that item at that price or hold off for a week or so, or whether to buy it today because you wisely guess it will cost more next month.
That is common sense. It is not absent from law.

If you see Johann walk across the road and punch Roscoe in the face you can be sure beyond a reasonable doubt that Johann did in fact punch Roscoe in the face.

But if you are walking down the street and see Johann and Roscoe grappling with each other before a passer-by breaks them up, can you later be sure beyond a reasonable doubt that Johann did punch Roscoe in the face if Roscoe later claims that he did?
Well, no, you can’t.

Why not?

Because you didn’t see that punch take place.

What can you be sure of?

Well, that both Johann and Roscoe were fighting with one another and that they were grabbing one another.
But a punch to the face? You didn’t see that so you cannot be sure beyond a reasonable doubt.

You might have heard what sounded like a punch to the face, but you didn’t see it. Its possible that that sound that you heard, that sound that you thought was a punch to the face, might have been caused by something else, like a car driving close by through a puddle of water and causing a splash.

That’s the criminal standard of proof.
Its different in civil law.

In civil law the standard of proof is on the balance of probabilities.
What does this phrase mean?

Well, you’ve won if you can show that version of events is more likely than not to have happened.
That’s a much lower standard of proof than beyond a reasonable doubt.

Beyond a reasonable doubt is not dead certainly; far from it, but it is much higher than the balance of probabilities.
Why does criminal law require this high standard of proof?

Would you like to go to jail for a few years?
Well, of course not.
That’s your answer.

Because jail is almost the ultimate punishment that a person can face in society, short of the death sentence.
I say almost, because the ultimate sanction is the death sentence.

But jail is the severest penalty, short of that.

You may not travel, you may not leave a confined space and you may not see loved ones or your fellow man for many years, or ever in some cases.

If as a Judge you are about to impose such a penalty on a citizen, isn’t it right that you should be sure beyond a reasonable doubt about their guilt before you do so?


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