What is the Presumption of Innocence? ~ Chosen as “Best Answer” by Asker on AVVO ~ Call Michael A. Haber, Esq. @ 1-888-SHARK-8-1

There is a great exchange in the movie “Good Will Hunting” that goes like this: 

Clark (Scott Winters – a Harvard Student): I was just hoping you might give me some insight into the evolution of the market economy in the southern colonies. My contention is that prior to the Revolutionary War, the economic modalities, especially in the southern colonies, could most aptly be characterized as agrarian precapitalism… 

Chuckie (Ben Affleck – a “street kid”): Let me tell you something, all right… 

Will: (another “street kid”, although a super smart one) Of course that is your contention… 

Clark: Hold on a second… 

Will: You’re a first year grad student. You just got finished reading some Marxian Historian, Pete Garrison probably. You’re gonna’ be convinced of that until next month when you get to James Lemon, then you’re gonna’ be talking about how the economies of Virginia and Pennsylvania were entrepreneurial and capitalist way back in 1740. That’s gonna’ last until next year, you’re gonna’ be in here regurgitating Gordon Wood, talking about ya know, the Pre-Revolutionary utopia and the capital forming effects of military mobilization. 

Clark: Well, as a matter of fact I won’t because Wood drastically underestimates the impact of social… 

Will: (interrupting) Wood drastically… Wood drastically underestimates the impact of social distinctions predicated upon wealth, especially inherited wealth. You got that from Vickers. “Work in Essex County”, page 98, right? Yeah, I read that too. Were you going to plagiarize the whole thing for us? Do you have any thoughts of your own on this matter? Or do you, is that you thing, you come into a bar, you read some obscure passage, and then pretend, you pawn it off as your own, as your own idea just to impress some girl and embarrass my friend? You see, the sad thing about a guy like you is that in 50 years, you’re gonna start doing some thinking on your own and you’re gonna come up with the fact that there are two certainties in life. One: don’t do that. And two: you dropped a 150 grand on a f*****’ education you could have gotten for a dollar fifty in late charges at the public library. 

Clark: Yeah, but I will have the degree, and you’ll be serving my kids fries at a drive thru on our way to a skiing trip. 

Will: (laughing) Yeah, maybe, but at least I won’t be unoriginal. 

You may not be Will Hunting smart (I know that I’m not) but from the question that you asked I know that you are intelligent, capable and definitely clever enough to do your own homework. 

Hopefully you will never have to experience the criminal justice system first hand but you should be educated (whether by school or on your own initiative) and not have to rely upon the “Cops” introduction to form your base of knowledge. Like Will Hunting, use the many tools that you have available to you (the internet, the library, etc) and succeed.