The prosecution is tasked with providing evidence that establishes guilt beyond a reasonable doubt in order to get a conviction albeit prosecution may fail to complete such task, the trier-of-fact's acceptance that guilt has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt will in theory lead to conviction of the defendant. It is a higher standard of proof than the standard of balance of probabilities (US English: preponderance of the evidence) commonly used in civil cases because the stakes are much higher in a criminal case: a person found guilty can be deprived of liberty, or in extreme cases, life, as well as suffering the collateral consequences and social stigma attached to a conviction.

JSTOR ( March 2009) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)īeyond ( a) reasonable doubt is a legal standard of proof required to validate a criminal conviction in most adversarial legal systems.Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This article needs additional citations for verification.

Without a shadow of a doubt legal