Not guilty, innocent - or something in between?

Abstract

The words "not guilty" and "innocent" are often used as though they mean exactly the same thing. In everyday conversation, the distinction may appear trivial. In law, philosophy, psychology and literature, however, the difference becomes much more important. When we also consider what happens inside the brain and body during fear, guilt and remorse, a courtroom verdict emerges as only one part of a much larger human story. Fyodor Dostoevsky understood this extraordinarily well. His novel Crime and Punishment is not simply a story about a murder and its legal consequences. It is an examination of what happens when the law has not yet convicted a person, but that person's own mind already knows the truth.