Re:Man jailed 16 months, and counting, for refusing to decry...
by dllthomas on Monday February 13, 2017 @12:10AM
(#13633260)
I think it's legitimate to say, in a discussion like this one where we're not dealing with punishment, that we should hold to a weaker standard (preponderance of evidence?) than should a criminal court.
That said, as far as I'm aware the only evidence we've seen is that he's been accused of the crime. I don't what portion of accusations are false (or even a proxy like conviction rate in comparable situations).
Re:Man jailed 16 months, and counting, for refusing to decry...
by Freak_NL on Monday February 13, 2017 @05:02AM
(#13634229)
That might seem reasonable at first glance, but it tends to turn into a witch hunt — especially with modern day communication channels.
That is, you are effectively dealing with punishment (by treating a suspect as a criminal and tarnishing their reputation before being convicted) by not applying the same rigour as the courts.
Re:Man jailed 16 months, and counting, for refusing to decry...
by dllthomas on Monday February 13, 2017 @01:07PM
(#13637352)
I agree that social condemnation - especially mass condemnation - is a form of punishment, and should be treated with corresponding care. But I reject the attempt to extend that to all related reasoning - it is specifically a question of requiring a high confidence for punishment.
There's a procedure though that we use to determine the likelihood of someone's guilt, based on evidence and legal arguments. Would you like to hear about it?