our laws about bail and whether or not a person is granted bail when they're accused of a crime and put before the court on a charge. What also flows from that concept of the presumption of innocence is the concept of proof beyond reasonable doubt, which is probably a little bit more complex than at first blush. But our criminal justice system is designed and the rules within it are designed to preserve absolutely that principle of proof beyond reasonable doubt in terms of the criminal law. So what I mean by that is when an accused is before the court facing a charge of a criminal offense, the onus is on the prosecution, and it's said the onus is on the prosecution from first to last to prove the offense beyond reasonable doubt. That means to the exclusion of all other reasonable explanations for the evidence. And that's something that is sometimes lost when cases come to the attention of the community, which are “That means to the exclusion of all other reasonable explanations for the evidence. And that's something that is sometimes lost when cases come to the attention of the community, which are very, very emotionally charged, and the community expects a certain outcome, nevertheless, those rules absolutely must be preserved. There's a very, very old saying in the law, it goes back a few centuries, that says it's better to let 100 guilty men go free than to convict one innocent man. And that's what Beyond Reasonable Doubt really means.” From I Catch Killers with Gary Jubelin: What is Justice?, 24 Mar 2021 https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/what-is-justice/id1506667049?i=1000514099060 Hedley Thomas on writing The Teacher's Pet Hedley Thomas is a journalist and has won eight Walkley awards, the first for his investigations into the Australian Federal Police investigations of Dr Mohamed Haneef, and the second for the podcast 'The Teacher's Pet'. In 2023 he published 'The Teacher's Pet' the book, and in this episode Hedley takes the reader behind the scenes of the global podcast. ASTRID: What impact do you think is the impact of The Teacher's Pet, but also more broadly true crime podcasting that has been done in Australia and around the world? You know, in your book, you quote Serial, and that was the first global true crime podcast. What effect do you think that has had on contemporary investigative journalism? And how journalism butts up against the legal system? And I guess how the media can hold the justice system to account? HEDLEY: Sometimes I think the whole genre of podcasting is fantastic for deep diving journalism for investigative journalism. And for audiences, it's, I think, restored that faith and confidence of listeners in the ability of journalism to look at complex things in a really detailed way, and hopefully to get results. That's a huge advantage. I think that sections of the law and judiciary are still grappling with how to deal with podcasting. And you know, I butted heads fairly robustly, I was going say violently, with sections of legal and criminal justice system over The Teacher's Pet. There are lawyers who have told me they absolutely hate my podcast, because they saw me lining up a person in Chris Dawson and making out a case of murder before he had faced any trial. That's true. But I didn't do that, just on some folly, on some sort of fantasy that was ill informed. I well knew that two very experienced coroner's, who had considered the evidence,
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