ABSTRACT
Having considered who may benefit from the presumption of innocence in Chapter Three, this chapter turns to who carries the duty to uphold the right. The presumption of innocence requires a duty as it is a human right and carries a legal obligation. The first part of the analysis is focused on public authorities. This group carries the majority of the duties with regard to the presumption of innocence. While all public authorities have duties with regard to the non-procedural presumption, fact-finders have the highest duty. They are the only people who have the duty to uphold both the procedural and non-procedural presumption. The second part of the chapter turns to non-public entities. In this section, it is argued that non-public entities necessarily have more limited duties because of the presumption of innocence’s ties to criminal justice, which is necessarily a public concern. Within this section, the limited duties of the media are explained, and it is argued that media should not ‘undermine’ the presumption of innocence. With regard to a duty for private individuals, Antony Duff’s theory of a civic presumption of innocence is considered. The chapter argues that private individuals do not have a duty to uphold the legal presumption of innocence.
