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by HungryGuy on September 9th, 2006

HungryGuy

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Which is the greater injustice (assuming the alleged crime is the same in both cases, and the assigned punishment would have been the same): to convict an innocent person, or to acquit a guilty person?

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Answers. 6 helpful answers below.

  • by Roger Kovaciny on September 10th, 2006

    Roger Kovaciny

    Conviction leads to punishment, and punishing someone who has done nothing wrong is terrible.

    Fail to convict a guilty person means a guilty person has gotten away with something. That's too bad, but heck, he's probably gotten away with a dozen "somethings" before he finally did enough to get arrested! We can't swat every fly, but we sure don't want to "swat" a law-abiding taxpayer, so we try harder than any society in history not to convict the innocent.

    Put it in simple terms. What's worse, your brother getting away with swiping the last cookie--or you getting spanked for his little rip-off? Spanking you is a much greater wrong than him swiping the cookie. (Not that I think a child should be spanked for swiping a cookie, but it helps clarify things.)

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  • by Glenn Blaylock on September 9th, 2006

    Glenn Blaylock

    According to the founders of the U.S. the greater injustice is for a person to be convicted of a crime that he did not do. That is why, in U.S. criminal law, a prosecutor must prove the accused guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and why we assume the accused is innocent until this burden of proof is met.

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  • by Anonymous on November 26th, 2006

    Anonymous

      It's worth noting that when the wrong person is convicted and punished for a crime, the person who really committed that crime still got away with it anyway.  So, the same injustice that takes place if a guilty person gets away with a crime still takes place, in addition to the injustice of an innocent person being punished for the crime he didn't commit.

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  • by LynfromNM on October 29th, 2006

    LynfromNM

    It is a greater injustice to convict an innocent person. Taking away a person's freedom is worse than death, and to do that to someone who hasn't committed a crime is unspeakable and should be guarded against rigorously. Apparently a lot of people disagree with my assessment or we wouldn't have people being held endlessly without trial at Gitmo. Acquitting an innocent person doesn't bother me as much - it should be difficult to convict a person and it should be done with the greatest protection of their rights. The guilty who are acquitted won't always get away with it -- one way or another your life catches up with you.

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  • by Moosayscow on November 17th, 2006

    Moosayscow

    Definitely convicting an innocent person.

    Whereas in the case of a guilty person, they will almost definitely be caught again and convicted, the innocent person will probably be bitter, and they will be unhappy and reflect doubt on whatever legal system is in effect. So slightly increasing potential for bad is better than exponentially decreasing potential for good.

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  • by Anonymous on October 18th, 2009

    To convict an innocent person, for the guilty will probably do something stupid again.

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