I remember reading something from Newsweek (or was it Time?) about how the TV show CSI started to affect the US criminal justice system. As we all know, they use the jury system. The show CSI has contaminated the jury pool to such a degree that district attorneys (equivalent i think to our public prosecutors) are complaining that it's almost impossible to get a conviction. They say that the jury nowadays demand and expect so much from criminal investigation, specifically forensic science, that reasonable doubt has become a dime a dozen.
I was wondering, will the same hold true in Philippine courts? Do judges now demand more? If you think about, the same should be happening here in the Philippines. With the advancement of modern science, so many things can be ascertained now that could not have been a few years back. The Philippines may not have access to all the technology available in the US, but should this not create some kind of doubt in the minds of judges? Can they really convict a person and say he is guilty beyond reasonable doubt knowing that there could be another more accurate, but more expensive, way of finding out the truth?
The correct term that should be used when convicting a person here in the Philippines is 'guilt beyond reasonable and affordable doubt'.
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