Sta Hungry Stay Foolish

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

A blog by Leon Oudejans

Presumed guilty

In some European countries (eg, Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland), car speeding fines are much higher for rich people (eg, EUR, NBC). The reason is quite simple: rich people need to feel the legal punishment, like poor people always do.

What if societies would extend the of the presumption of innocence principle towards an assumption of guilt??

A few days ago, president Joe Biden expressed the following comment on a fatal cop shooting:

“Sonya’s death at the hands of a responding officer reminds us that all too often Black Americans face fears for their safety in ways many of the rest of us do not.”

Source: Statement from President Joe Biden on Sonya Massey, 22 July 2024

In my view, it could well be argued that (some / many) Americans consider Black Americans as presumed guilty. To some extent, my view also explains the (alleged) victim role, as often attributed to Black Americans.

Let’s suppose there would be a presumed guilty rule for the rich, next to the presumption of innocence principle for everyone else. What would happen? I suppose that blackmail of the rich would become (very) likely.

Alternatively, rich people could be required to pay for their (defense) lawyers and for the (prosecuting) district attorney. Buying your innocence (in court) would then become a lot more expensive.

Nowadays, rich people can buy themselves out of court. Perhaps, this is more likely in USA than in Europe. For a certain type of criminals, the assumption of guilt is more important – in my view – than the presumption of innocence.

“There’s a reason survivors choose not to go to the police, and that’s because they’re treated as the criminals. The rapists are innocent until proven guilty, but survivors are guilty until proven innocent – at least in the eyes of the police.”

A quote by “political activist and performance artist” Emma Sulkowicz (b.1992)

Guilty Until Proven Innocent (2000) by Jay-Z featuring R. Kelly
artist, lyrics, video, Wiki-artist, Wiki-song

Note: all markings (bolditalicunderlining) by LO unless in quotes or stated otherwise.

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