Wacky Wednesday--We Shouldn’t Presume People Innocent

Note: Before reading the following arguments, please understand that they are not what I believe. On Wednesdays, I deliberately argue for wrong ideas, challenging my listeners to call and defend the obvious right answer, which is usually far harder than one would expect. This is a summary of what Wacky Andrew will be arguing, not a representation of what real Andrew believes.

~It teaches bad theology, and people learn to think they aren’t sinful unless they do something wrong.
~Presuming people innocent means that a lot of guilty people will roam the streets freely only because the State can’t make their case within all the Byzantine rules of legal procedure.
~Why do we have the phrase, “He got off on a technicality?” Here’s a hint. It’s not because our legal system always gets the bad guy.
~Presumption of innocence means that whenever people are truly innocent, they still carry the stigma and stain of having been tried. If people had to prove their innocence, then when they win a trial everyone would know they are much better than merely “not guilty.”
~So this lets evildoers get away with their crimes and indirectly taints anyone who is accused of one but is innocent.
~If you’re truly innocent, what do you have to be afraid of at a trial?
~The existing evidence that they have been accused, are standing trial, have hired (presumably) a lawyer, and a grand jury has indicted them means that a rational person would have to be a fool to presume them innocent.
~Freedom is a privilege, not a right.
~Everyone’s guilty of something anyhow, most of which we never get punished for. Even if you’re not guilty of this particular thing, you probably deserve a serious punishment for something else.
~If sinners deserve hell, why not at least recognize that citizens all deserve jail. If we don’t incarcerate them all, still the ones who do get thrown in jail don’t really have anything to complain about.

Links:
Presumption of innocence (Wikipedia)
History of presumption of innocence (Talkleft)
Guilty Men (UCLA)