On The Application Of The Criteria For Excluding Reasonable Suspicion

The government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt every element of a charged offense. The reasonable-doubt standard plays a vital role in the American scheme of criminal procedure. It is a prime instrument for reducing the risk of convictions resting on factual error. Although this standard is an ancient and honored aspect of American criminal justice system,it defies easy explication. Undoubtedly,what constitutes a reasonable doubt is crucial for the understanding of such standard.From the doubt that you cannot say you feel an abiding conviction of the truth of the charge to a moral certainty, to the doubt that a prudent man would feel safe to act upon that conviction in matters of the highest concern and importance to his own dearest personal interests, to the doubt with strongest probability, to the doubt that causes a reasonable man in any matter of like importance to hesitate to act, and finally to an actual substantial doubt, it seems that every instruction will be soon substituted by the subsequent. Any attempts to define reasonable doubt,to some degree, seem in vain.Several studies of jury behavior have concluded that jurors are often confused about the meaning of reasonable doubt when that term is left undefined. Thus, even if definitions of reasonable doubt are necessarily imperfect, the alternative -- refusing to define the concept at all -- is not obviously preferable. Finally we may understand the essential meaning of reasonable doubt by studying different definitions of it. First, the reasonable doubt must be applied with the presumption of innocence. Second,the doubt must arise from evidences with competence. Finally,there are two meanings contained in the standard of proof beyond reasonable doubt. The one is the degree of certainty required for conviction and the other is the degree of doubt required for acquittal. We can refer to American Federal Judicial Center' s definition that firmly convinced of the defendant' s guilt or having a biding faith to it for the degree of certainty. Hesitating before action can be referred to the degree of doubt. And better application of such a standard can't be achieved without fully understanding of the basic meaning of reasonable doubt. Then we can better grasp and apply the standard that facts are clear and the evidence is reliable and sufficient.