I was reading the news and I just didn't know how those words are different;( if a person is 'accused' that person is not really 'proved' as guilty right? what about convicted and charge? and I was wondering what drop/ press charges mean Thanks in advance!
to accuse means to claim that someone did something. It is definitely not yet proven. Press charges means to legally file a claim of criminal conduct. The charge is the legal accusation, a statement of what the person is supposed to have done and what law was violated by doing that. It is still not proven. A conviction, in legal sense, means that the person has been tried, been brought to court and found guilty, meaning that the accusation has been judged to have been proven. A conviction means that the accusation is considered to be true by those people who have the job to make that decision. To drop charges means that the police have decided that there is not enough proof of the truth of the accusation to justify pressing charges. Generally this means that there is not much proof of the accusation, with the suggestion that the accusation was false. It might be simply a case of there not being enough evidence to demonstrate the truth of the accusation, rather than a judgement of falsehood of the accusation. Either way, though, the result is the same. The charge is removed. In our western legal system, the general idea is that a person is considered innocent until proven guilty. The decision turns on whether there is proof of guilt, rather than proof of innocence. The problem with this is, of course, that an innocent person does not usually get to prove his innocence, and thus even if found not guilty, or even if charges are dropped, there is always some doubt as to whether the person is actually innocent, or simply got away with doing something because there wasn't enough proof. being not guilty is not exactly the same as being innocent. Being innocent is definitely being not guilty, but not guilty is not definitely being innocent.
if a person is 'accused' that person is not really 'proved' as guilty right? Right. A person who has been officially charged with a crime but has not yet been tried is commonly called the accused. At the trial he will be either acquitted or convicted. what about convicted and charge? I'm not sure what you're asking. A charge is an official accusation. A conviction is the decision by a judge or jury that the accused is in fact guilty of what was charged. and I was wondering what drop/ press charges mean Once someone has been charged, the prosecutor can elect to withdraw the charge (or drop it) rather than proceed to trial. This usually happens because there is not enough evidence for trial, or new evidence comes up which shows the accused is not guilty of the charge. To press charges is to make a formal accusation, particularly for someone who has been wronged to make a formal complaint against another person. Thanks in advance!
