Reasonable doubt has been a critical component of the American criminal justice system for more than 200 years and a due process requirement since 1970, when the Supreme Court held that no state could win a conviction without extinguishing it.
For the criminally accused, reasonable doubt is a stark dividing line: freedom and vindication on one side, incarceration, stigma and lost civic rights on the other. In capital cases, reasonable doubt is the difference between life and death. But try coming up with a definition in a sentence or two. Or five. It isn’t easy. As a concept and a value, reasonable doubt is monumentally important, and yet its true meaning remains elusive.
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