Is Reasonable Doubt Reasonable?

Abstract

This paper analyses the multiple tensions and confusions in appellate-court efforts to explain the criminal standard of proof. It concludes that the ambiguous and highly subjectivist character of the Supreme Court's recent glosses on this conception render it virtually meaningless. It is virtually indistinguishable from a standard saying that any doubt whatever, even inarticulable doubts, can justify an acquittal.

Keywords: reasonable doubt, moral certainty, standard of proof