innocent until proven
Default courtroom status
Innocent until proven is the truncated form of the legal principle "innocent until proven guilty"—the presumption that an accused person bears no guilt until evidence establishes otherwise.
The phrase often appears cut short for emphasis or irony: Whatever happened to innocent until proven?
The incomplete form highlights how easily the principle gets abandoned in practice.
- guiltyResponsible for wrongdoing
- due processGuaranteed judicial fairness
- fair trialImpartial judicial proceeding
- presumptionBelief held without proof
- trialJudicial examination of claims
accused · defendant · criminal case · verdict · not guilty · courtroom · court of law · justice · acquittal · evidence · burden of proof · beyond reasonable doubt · burden · proof · reasonable · doubt · charge · suspect
- Assumptionsfalse assumption, stereotypes, generalizations, biases, prejudices
innocent until proventrial by media
Public condemnation through coverage
mob justice · rush to judgment · kangaroo court · witch hunt · prejudged
innocent, innocence, innocently, innocuous, innocuously, innocuousness, until, prove, proven