Attorney Ken Garten, writing in the Columbia (Missouri) Daily Tribune, says that the presumption of “innocent until proven guilty” often gets thrown out the window in cases of child sex abuse…to the detriment of not just defendants, but the legal system itself.
Yes, these are horrible offenses, and children need to be protected. But the protections of the system also need to be balanced so the innocent accused who is subject to false or contrived allegations, or who is charged solely because of some long-ago historical allegation, is extended basic fairness in his defense that ensures protection from unfair exploitation of the innocent.
Read Garten’s full op-ed here.