The golden rule and the golden thread

Heffer, Chris ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0922-5807 2025. The golden rule and the golden thread. Nick, I. M. and Blewit, Kirsty E., eds. The Routledge Handbook of Ethics in Forensic Linguistics, Routledge, pp. 206-224. (10.4324/9781003391074-18)

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Abstract

The presumption of innocence is often described as the “golden thread” that runs through the web of Anglo-American criminal law (Woolmington v. DPP). It depends on the widely held ethical belief that a State should respect the autonomy of its citizens over unbridled crime control. Two ethical principles follow: that the burden of proving the case should be on the State rather than the citizen defendant, and that the standard for proving the case must be very high to avoid, as far as possible, the conviction of the innocent. However, while there is universal ethical agreement that the criminal standard traditionally represented by “beyond (a/any/all) reasonable doubt” should be communicated clearly to the jury, ethical considerations relating to that communication have been largely ignored, with the result that the golden thread has become frayed. In particular, drafting committees tend to ignore their epistemic responsibility (Heffer 2020) to inform themselves of the extensive empirical research on beyond reasonable doubt. They thus often apply the golden rule of statutory interpretation that ordinary words should be given their ordinary meanings and so, for example, should not be defined for the jury, but without understanding that beyond reasonable doubt has become a technical legal term that is not understood by jurors. Instead of applying the statutory golden rule, judicial authorities should apply the Golden Rule in ethics that we should treat others as we would wish to be treated ourselves. Taking epistemic care and applying the Golden Rule should lead to carefully explained, consistently delivered, and communicatively effective instructions on the criminal standard that should go some way toward mending the golden thread.

Item Type:	Book Section
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > English, Communication and Philosophy
Publisher:	Routledge
ISBN:	9781003391074
Last Modified:	26 Jan 2026 12:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/184181

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