Linkage: 26 January 2016
In broader terms, the Coakley case shows the desperate need for due process and beyond reasonable doubt after rape accusations to approximate the standards expected when other crimes are alleged. A person is extremely unlikely, for example, to be convicted of an armed robbery without CCTV evidence, the recovery of what is stolen, proof of injury, or multiple witness statements of the same individual incident (i.e. not the Bill Cosby witch hunt of disconnected allegations being bundled together as one “truth”). Both courts and non-judicial discussions are engaged in a perpetual cycle of watering down thresholds to secure more convictions … Continue reading →