Beyond a reasonable doubt
Definition
The criminal standard of proof in common-law systems. The prosecution must persuade the jury to this degree before a verdict of guilty can be returned. The US Supreme Court has held it is constitutionally required but has declined to define it further for jury use, a decision that research suggests increases juror confusion.
Related terms
- Deliberate indifference
- Also called 'willful blindness' or 'conscious avoidance' in some jurisdictions: the doctrine that a defendant cannot escape knowledge of a fact by...
- Juror comprehension research
- The empirical literature, primarily in psychology and linguistics, that measures how well mock or actual jurors understand legal instructions. Methods include post-instruction...
- Pattern jury instructions
- Standardised model instructions approved by a state or federal judicial council for use across all cases of a given type. They are...
- Preponderance of the evidence
- The civil standard of proof, meaning more likely than not, sometimes glossed as 51 percent probability. Jurors often confuse it with reasonable...
- Specific intent
- A mental state element requiring that the defendant not only performed the act but did so with the purpose of achieving a...
Explained in
- Jury Instructions: Comprehension Problems and Linguistic RemediesThe criminal standard of proof in common-law systems. The prosecution must persuade the jury to this degree before a verdict of guilty can be returned. The US...