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The biggest mystery about the Kahui case…
By Steven | May 25, 2008
… is why so many journalists seem to have no idea of what an acquittal means.
I’m getting pretty sick of statements like this one, from today’s Herald on Sunday:
…the jury of seven men and five women were unanimous in their view that he was not the killer.
No, they weren’t (or if they were, their verdict doesn’t tell us so). All they found was that the charge hadn’t been proved against him beyond reasonable doubt. For all we know, every man jack on that jury believed he was guilty – but just couldn’t be sure enough to convict.
Juries don’t find people innocent. Nor do they “clear” people, really. A juror can be 90% convinced of guilt and still vote to acquit. This shouldn’t be difficult for journalists to understand and write about properly.
Topics: Media ethics | Comments Off on The biggest mystery about the Kahui case…