Many countries have a binary justice system that sorts defendants into two very broad categories: ‘guilty’ and ‘not guilty’. Those deemed ‘not guilty’ are often left with the stigma of a criminal record, even when the accused was overwhelmingly proven to have done nothing wrong. Meanwhile, another defendant might also be labelled ‘not guilty’, despite substantial evidence of guilt, if a single juror had some lingering doubts. And in some countries, such as the United States, the system incentivises agreements that pressure defendants to plead guilty to crimes regardless of their actual guilt. In this video from Wireless Philosophy, Barry Lam, an associate professor of philosophy at Vassar College, discusses alternatives to the prevailing two-verdict system that might more accurately reflect degrees of uncertainty – as well as some of their potential pitfalls.
Video by Wireless Philosophy
video
Meaning and the good life
Wander through the English countryside with two teens trying to make sense of the world
10 minutes
video
Computing and artificial intelligence
The ‘cloud’ requires heaps of energy to stay aloft. Could synthetic DNA be the answer?
12 minutes
video
History
There are fragments of Romani Gypsy history all over the UK – if one knows where to look
3 minutes
video
Biology
Brilliant dots of colour form exquisite patterns in this close-up of butterfly wings
3 minutes
video
Anthropology
Does Mogi’s future lie with her horses on the Mongolian steppe, or in the city?
16 minutes
video
Genetics
Why it took a century to work out that humans interbred with Neanderthals
22 minutes
video
Art
The sprawling mural that depicts an unflinching people’s history of Los Angeles
7 minutes
video
Personality
A ‘dumpster archeologist’ reconstructs strangers’ stories via what they’ve discarded
14 minutes
video
Human rights and justice
An unarmed Indigenous group aims to protect their native lands in this stirring portrait
15 minutes