what does “beyond a reasonable doubt” mean?
In: 7
The term reasonable doubt is the standard of evidence needed in American criminal court to find someone guilty.
Lots of good examples here, but basically if you were asked to serve on a criminal jury, your instructions would be to decide if the evidence presented made you believe beyond a “reasonable doubt” that the crime was committed.
Obviously what’s reasonable to you not be reasonable to me, so that’s why (in large part) there’s a jury selection process…to identify bias and establish a baseline of competence for a group of people to hear the case.
There are other lesser standards of determination used for non-criminal matters (preponderance of the evidence, etc.) but that’s some bullshit for another day.
Latest Answers