The Empire Page

Although not explicitly in our Constitution, presumption of innocence is widely held to follow from the 5th, 6th, and 14^th amendments to the Constitution. In many foreign democracies it is explicitly stated, even in the Constitution of Russia.

Accusing someone of a crime or an improper act without the actual proof is a dangerous business. The main problem with it is, once people hear that you have been accused, in their minds you are guilty. They assume the accuser has the proof.

Look at what has happened in the negative campaign against President Obama since he has taken office. Accusations have flow around as to whether he attended college, whether he is a U.S. citizen, that he is trying to turn the U.S.A. into a Muslim country, and hard as it is to believe, there are ultra-conservative citizens of this country ready to convict President Obama without even bothering with a trial. Prejudging people is wrong. It has to stop. The accuser is entitled to due process under the law if accused of a crime. It is a basic tenet of not only our society but of our democracy.

I was just recently falsely accused of doing something I just did not do. I was accused of buying cigars at one cigar shop and smoking them in the smoking lounge of another cigar shop. It simply was not the case. When confronted by myself it was found that the owner of the cigar shop who accused me did not have any evidence to support his accusation. In addition, to clear my name, I provided him with proof that I had not actually bought cigars at one shop and smoked them in his shop. The problem now is that the “milk is in the coffee”. People have heard that the reason I no longer frequent this shop is because I was guilty of this crime. It’s wrong.

On a macro level, news agencies need to stop reporting items for which they have no proof. Doing this only unnecessarily insights the public and takes away from the civil debate on important issues. Let’s get back to reporting the news and not just reporting false accusations and innuendos.

Douglas Boettner

doug.boettner@gmail.com