Obra: Harvard Law Review, VOLUME 128, FEBRUARY 2015, NUMBER 4, página 1088

Artigo: THE CONSEQUENCES OF ERROR IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Autor: Daniel Epps

The most common and straightforward argument for the Blackstone principle is that “the disutility of convicting an innocent person far exceeds the disutility of finding a guilty person to be not guilty.” This argument emphasizes the severity of criminal sanctions: A wrongly convicted defendant can lose his liberty or even his life, and also faces the stigma of being officially branded as a wrongdoer. Because such weighty interests are at stake, the argument goes, we should be especially cautious before judging a defendant guilty.