By Norman Baggs
SUGAR HILL, Ga. | Most of us couldn’t explain the Blackstone Ratio if asked to do so, but it represents a legal theory that has been a foundational building block of our society for centuries.
In the 1760s, a jurist in England by the name of William Blackstone brought forth the concept that “It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.”
That concept was important to our nation’s forefathers as they shaped the United States just a few decades later.
John Adams wrote that “We are to look upon it as more beneficial, that many guilty persons should escape unpunished, than one innocent person should suffer.”
Ben Franklin concurred, saying “It is better 100 guilty persons should escape that the one innocent person should suffer.”
And thus, a principle of American justice was established. The Supreme Court in 1895 upheld the theory, noting that the presumption of innocence is “one of the securities of the rights of the citizen,” and is “fundamental to our American system of justice.”
For centuries, the presumption of innocence and the idea that it was better for the guilty to go free than for the innocent to be punished have been central to the ideals of American justice and social mores. That no longer seems to be the case.
How many cellphone videos of masked ICE agents taking legal American citizens into custody do we have to watch before becoming incensed enough to make a change? Is there any reason to believe that the presumption of innocence is a factor in the oppressive and heavy-handed tactics of those who seem to delight in demonstrating their infallible power?
It didn’t take long for us to migrate from “deporting the worst of the criminals” to “deporting anyone we can catch.”
Data released over the summer showed the vast majority of those deported by ICE had no criminal convictions at all, and that less than 10 percent were violent offenders. But we’re scooping up legal residents, people with legitimate visas or green cards, and American citizens. And those in charge seem to be laughing about it.
And what about those “drug” boats we keep blowing out of the water in the Caribbean and Pacific? At last count, military strikes on those vessels had resulted in some 66 deaths, but has anyone yet presented any real evidence of them transporting drugs?
Supposedly, these Venezuelan boats were sunk to combat fentanyl coming into the United States. But the vast majority of that deadly drug comes from China and Mexico, not Venezuela.
If presumed innocence no longer applies in the states, it’s certainly not an issue out on international waters.
It’s easy to say “Who cares?” if South American boaters are killed, or American citizens are caught up in immigration raids and mistreated.
We all should, because it’s a very short step from “innocent until proven guilty” to “guilty until proven innocent,” a fact that may become even more obvious if the nation’s military is given the task of providing law enforcement in our cities. That’s not the American way.
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