Presumption of innocence

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The Presumption of innocence is the legal version of the skeptical position that the burden of proof rests with the person making an accusation - or a claim - rather than the person who must refute it.

In other words the law accepts as a null hypothesis that everyone is innocent and only compelling evidence to the contrary can overturn this assumption. It is considered to be a fundamental human right and article 11 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights explicitly states that everyone should have the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

In this sense a criminal trial represents a formalized process during which the evidence is presented, evaluated and publicly tested. Only if the evidence is found to pass the required tests can the accused be regarded as "guilty". Until this process has been gone through the accused is innocent.

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