INNOCENT UNTIL PROVED GUILTY??????

 25. Apr. 2010. – 15:45:53 

Innocent until proven guilty! Most people would acknowledge this is the "British way" of doing things. Punish the guilty when they`re proved guilty........in your dreams......DNA taken from innocent suspects during an investigation is currently held for six years; on the sexual offences register there is a very small number of people who have not been convicted whom the police and other agencies believe are potentially dangerous. This list will cover some people with mental health problems and suspects believed to be a public risk but about whom there is not enough evidence to secure a conviction. A domestic violence protection notice can be obtained against a partner who has not been convicted of any crime. 

Earlier this year an unnamed police force informed the General Optical Council, the long established quango charged with overseeing the optical profession, that an optometrist charged with possessing indecent images of children should be subject to an unspecified interim order but assumed to be suspension from the Opticians` Register. The unnamed optometrist had pleaded not guilty at a Magistrates` Court and will face jury trial at the Crown Court. The Fitness to Practise Committee of the G.O.C. turned down the application on the basis that there was very limited information on the alleged offence[s] and therefore no justification in making the order. Thus a professional man whose status is "innocent" is allowed to continue to earn his living a facility that would have been denied him had he been suspended. A point of concern is that the chairman of the committee said a further application for an interim suspension could be made if more evidence became available. 

Freedom of the individual in its widest form and safety and protection of those in society has been a balancing act for centuries. I would venture that the "health & safety" mentality we have experienced in the last two decades is moving the fulcrum of the "innocent until guilty" debate considerably in a direction which indicates that the culture of this country is considerably more authoritarian than is healthy in a democracy. I fear that nothing said before or after May 6th will alter that.