presumption of innocence

is a legal standard of the courts and not necessarily apply to individual opinion but there are two areas where it really bothers me that an accusation is automatically assumed to be guilt. Racism and sexual abuse. Accused of either of these and you are 1) guilty and 2) defenseless

Case in point
http://media2.wptv.com/photo/2016/06....0_640_480.jpg


Daniel Bruce Sharp: Stuart music teacher accused of crimes against a minor

I've know Dan Dan the guitar man for roughly 10 years. Taught my son guitar and is teaching me. Every tuesday night for the last 5 or so years we play guitar and down some beers. So this went down yesterday although he knew it was coming. Of course the linked article is factually incorrect (his age is off by a decade) and one is a classic illustration of media bias where they state "Police say the teen was able to provide investigators with a detailed description of Sharp’s studio.". If you took lessions for 2 years in a 16 by 10 foot room, would you not be able to give a "detailed description" of that room? That is his "studio". But anyway, I must have gotten 10 calls about his "guilt" over the last 24 hrs. I don't know if he is guilty or not but I certainly can see a 14 year old kid making up a story about her guitar teacher. I can also see one taking a beer (or actually it was a Mikes Hard Lemonade) without his permission because I KNOW he doesn't give any to kids. The frig in his "studio" is well stocked with beer and MLH, some might even be beer I purchased because when he teaches adults we typically do so over a few cold ones. The worse he does is engage his students when they come with their troubles... and I hear the stories. Its all typical adolescent things, and I've told him in the past to stay away from that type of converstation lest he find himself in some type of predicament! But back to the topic...seems like the guilt is assumed and regardless of the outcome, he will always be seen as guilty in the eyes of most.

When I did my student teaching back in 1990 one of the first things my cooperating teacher did was caution me about girls at that age. Never be alone with them in a closed room. At that age kids will say things to get attention without thinking through the consequences.

I think the logic is that no one would make such accusations without cause b/c of the stigma, b/c of the seriousness, etc. But yet we know from multiple cases that people do in fact make such accusations and they are false, and that at other times those things happen and no one speaks up.

It's the nightmare scenario from a legal standpoint, there's no real way to know in most cases. but it will destroy him and though she doesn't know it even if it's false it will do damage to her too.