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Origins of the Fifth Amendment | The Origins of Adversary Criminal Trial | The Palladium of Justice | The Privilege Against Self-Incrimination | Dereliction of Duty
To be convicted of a crime in the United States, a person must be proven guilty Âbeyond a reasonable doubt.â But what is reasonable doubt? Even sophisticated legal experts find this fundamental doctrine difficult to explain. In this accessible book, James Q. Whitman digs deep into the history of the law and discovers that we have lost sight of the original purpose of Âreasonable doubt.â It was not originally a legal rule at all, he shows, but a theological one.
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The rule as we understand it today is intended to protect the accused. But Whitman traces its history back through centuries of Christian theology and common-law history to reveal that the original concern was to protect the souls of jurors. In Christian tradition, a person who experienced doubt yet convicted an innocent defendant was guilty of a mortal sin. Jurors fearful for their own souls were reassured that they were safe, as long as their doubts were not Âreasonable.â Today, the old rule of reasonable doubt survives, but it has been turned to different purposes. The result is confusion for jurors, and a serious moral challenge for our system of justice.
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About: To be convicted of a crime in the United States, a person must be proven guilty Âbeyond a reasonable doubt.
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