The presumption of innocence is considered by many to be one of the cornerstones of a valuable justice system. For law to be just, it must be fair. It must, at the very least, punish the guilty and not the innocent. To assume that all those accused are innocent until proven guilty provides insurance against most unjust convictions. The burden of proof is on the complainant, it is up to them to prove guilt, rather than the defendant having to defend their innocence. If the default position is innocence, we need not fear being convicted with little or no evidence of our crime.

In rape cases the fear is that without the presumption of innocence there will be many more men punished after being falsely convicted. Women would have the unjust power of being able to claim, without proof, that they were raped, and thus destroy the lives of any man they dislike. Men imagine that women frequently feel so much shame after having enjoyable, consensual sex, that they invent rape charges to feel less ashamed. This claim is supported by the potential historical use of rape accusations as a way of protecting women from accusations of adultery. It’s certainly true that in the US rape claims were used as an excuse for racist hate crime. It was claimed to be impossible for