Is It Time to Define ‘Beyond a Reasonable Doubt’?
Illinois is one of only 10 states that do not define "reasonable doubt" for juries.
Illinois courts have a well-established precedent to refrain from defining for juries what "beyond a reasonable doubt" means. The principle also is baked into the Illinois Pattern Jury Instructions-Criminal, which informs trial courts to not provide a definition instruction, stating: "reasonable doubt is a term which needs no elaboration and we have so frequently discussed the futility of attempting to define it that we might expect the practice to be discontinued."
The basis for this precedent stems from the concept that the phrase is self-explanatory—that “there is no better definition of reasonable doubt than the words themselves.”
But is this necessarily true? In the July 2018 Illinois Bar Journal, assistant public defender Timothy James Ting suggests it is time to reconsider whether “reasonable doubt” is worth defining. Ting examines states that do define reasonable doubt and explores a jury’s struggle to deliberate on a first-degree murder case in which its understanding of reasonable doubt was anything but clear.
Read more in the July issue of the Illinois Bar Journal.
Member Comments (2)
It is difficult to understand why we would not want a uniform standard in the state for one of the most important principles of our Constitution. I have personally lost cases where the court has told the jury (in response to their confusion) that reasonable doubt is whatever they decide/want it to be. NO IT IS NOT.
The appellate courts are asked on a daily basis to determine whether there was proof beyond a reasonable doubt during a trial, yet they cannot define it even amongst themselves?
The only reason offered for not providing a definition is that "PBRD is so readily understandable that it needs no further explanation/definition". So do you believe this burden of proof is being applied uniformly across the states, in every courtroom, across every trial, and by every juror?
C'mon man!
https://repository.jmls.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2739&context=law...
COMMENT: REASONABLE DOUBT: IS IT DEFINED BY WHATEVER IS AT THE TOP OF THE GOOGLE SEARCH PAGE?, 50 J. Marshall L. Rev. 933