Reply #52: Our criminal justice system is built upon the premise of innocent until proven guilty

[Hugabear]

Even with the most heinous of crimes.

"a home is burglarized, the owner is not asked to prove she owns the home, is not asked to prove she invited the burglar in, is not asked to prove what was stolen was there before. The defendant is asked to prove he was not there, he is not in possession of the alleged stolen property. In short...why is the man never asked to prove he didn't rape the woman?"

Actually that's not true at all. The defendant is never required to prove that he/she did not commit the crime in question. The onus falls upon the prosecution to prove that the defendant committed the crime. And there have been cases where people have been falsely accused of crimes such as rape or child molestation. I had a good friend of mine who had his life ruined because of a false molestation charge; eventually the parents confessed that they put their child up to it because they had a grudge against him. It's unfortunate, and thankfully it doesn't happen that often, but it does happen occasionally - which is why our justice system is designed the way it is.