Innocent vs. Not Guilty

[SoutherDem]

I am not a lawyer, so I have always used those terms interchangeably. I think of one as the legal term while the other is a common non-legal term.

When a major trial is being close to ending I will see someone make a post using the wrong term and they are corrected multiple times.

When I have read the two definitions they seem so close they could be interchanged. But, innocent does seem to be more general, as to the religious meaning free from all guilt, but that aspect seems to disappear when you move from the religious, while not guilty seems to be more specific to a specific event.

I remember similar arguments to acquitted vs not guilty.

Can someone help me with the real differences and why people get so upset when the terms acquitted, not guilty and innocent are used interchangeably?

[gollygee]

1. Innocent means you didn't do it

but not guilty means it was not proven that you did it.

You could be both, but not necessarily. Someone can certainly have committed a crime, and therefore not be innocent, but still be found not guilty because there wasn't enough evidence to convict them.

[Salviati]

2. And certainly there are plenty of innocent people who are not found not guilty.

[gollygee]

3. Uh huh

I said that someone can be both.

[Nevernose]

4. Nobody is innocent

And that's why we say "not guilty." Or at least that's how a deputy DA once explained it to me.

[YarnAddict]

7. Except

in the Duke lacrosse case, the defendents were declared innocent, not merely "not guilty." And the prosecutor was severely penalized for bringing charges.

I think that's the only time I can remember "innocent" being used in a court case.

[DrDan]

5. I would suggest just the opposite - that "not guilty" is more general

it would include (1) those that are innocent and (2) those that are guilty but their guilt has not been proven.

[DrewFlorida]

6. Both terms are very specific.

Think of it as if your suspected your wife of cheating on you, and you question her about your suspicion.
Innocent = she completely convinces you there is no way she could have or would have cheated on you.

Not guilty = she denies it but, her story does not give you any proof to know for sure she guilty, nor does in give you enough proof that she is innocent.

In the case of a crime, the legal amount of certainty needed to find someone guilty is called "Guilty beyond a reasonable doubt" it is generally thought to be approximately 95% certain of guilt.

In criminal court the court does not seek to find out a person's innocence, rather, it's job is to find out if a person is guilty of the crime or not. Or in other words, if it can be determined within 95% certainty that the person is guilty, or in the words the court uses, guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If the court can not find you guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, you are determined to be "not guilty.

[ORE999]

8. Innocent vs. Guilty: Two Additional Distinctions

To my knowledge, in all jurisdictions in the US, the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Presumption of innocence in the US is widely held to follow from the 5th, 6th, and 14th amendments. Therefore, before the law, if you are not found guilty, you are innocent.

Of course there is also a third way to view the distinction. You may be not guilty of a crime in every sense of the word but also not innocent if you acted in ways that contributed or lead to the crime. You were not purely and wholesomely uninvolved.