181: The Burden of Proof

I could have been a lawyer.

My grades were pretty good. The degree I have is often considered a stepping stone into law. I know how to make a good argument. I have been told by many people that my public speaking skills are excellent.

I would have had a good opportunity to go into law, but I didn’t. One reason I chose to avoid that path was the fact that my closest brush with legal affairs was observing my parents divorce. Family law is messy and gross, and watching their ugly divorce unfold left me disgusted. I didn’t want any part of it.

I might have been more interested if I had been exposed to civil or criminal cases. There is something about that kind of law which I find intriguing. It’s full of fascinating ideas, things like the burden of proof resting with the prosecution, or innocent until proven guilty. Our legal system is designed to protect people who are accused from being wrongfully condemned. The results of being found guilty can be heavy indeed: you could be sent to jail for years, you could pay heavy fines, in some case you could even lose your life.

Our legal system recognizes the serious consequences of being found guilty, so it puts the burden of proof in the hands of the prosecution. Many people to this day believe that O.J. Simpson killed his wife, but the jury did not find the proof presented by the prosecution convincing enough to merit a verdict of guilty.

All very interesting, but I didn’t become a lawyer.

Instead I’m sitting in this podunk town in Wisconsin, writing a blog and driving around taking measurements for construction bids. Since construction has been deemed an essential industry in Wisconsin I have been working throughout the quarantine. The majority of my work day is spent driving. When I get to a construction site I ask a few basic questions of the contractor or homeowner, and then spend an hour or two recording measurements.

I met a homeowner today at a house she will be moving into next month, and like many people these days, she was starved for human interaction. (I had a guy corner me in a gas station a few days ago and spend fifteen minutes pouring out his heart about how his wife had used natural remedies to cure herself from stage 5 cancer. Never seen him before, and he didn’t know me from Adam.) Anyway, she was starved for human interaction, and nervously stood on the other side of the room talking while I completed the measurements. She was retired, and struggling with some serious health issues that her husband was facing. Almost as an afterthought she told me that over the last month and a half she had lost over $30,000 in investments she had saved for retirement.

I think that traveling around and listening to stories like this makes me a better writer than practicing law would. When Lawyers talk to their clients there’s always an agenda. I get to talk to people and listen to them with absolutely no agenda or goal in mind. I just hear what they say and take it in.

Of course, there are some stories that I probably don’t hear. Nobody wants to tell a random guy doing measurements on their house the really nasty stuff. I guess lawyers are probably hearing plenty of those stories these days, as domestic violence has been dramatically on the rise since the beginning of the lockdowns. It’s hard to get exact numbers from the United States, but the agencies that deal with these things are reporting serious rises in abuse.

The numbers from other countries are easier to come by. Reports of domestic violence in China tripled in February as compared to a year ago. A charity in Great Britain which deals with domestic abuse issues has seen a 25% surge in calls to their hotline since the lockdown began. All across the globe, from France, to Palestine to the United States, Women and children in volatile relationships have no way to escape from abuse, mistreatment and even death.

These domestic issues are compounded by very real economic issues. Almost anyone who has been in a serious relationship can attest to the fact that domestic tensions rise when finances become tight. Over the last six weeks at least twenty-six million jobs have been lost in the United States. How many find themselves unemployed globally is hard to say, but there is no doubt that millions upon millions of families around the world are now struggling to put food on the table.

Problems like the inability to pay bills, uncertainty about what should be achieved in a given day, the mundaneness of staying at home and the bleakness of isolation create a myriad of psychological issues. It is no secret that the mental health of people around the globe who are shut inside their houses is suffering severely.

Many people in the United States have started to have serious concerns about their civil liberties. We have a bill of rights enshrined in our Constitution, and it is probably the one element of our government which we cherish the most. This document guaranties the freedom of our citizens to assemble and worship as they please. During the lockdown this freedom has been suspended. For many Americans this is a major concern.
Given all of these serious issues it is fair to ask what is being gained by the extreme measures we are taking. Sweden has implemented measures which are much looser than measures taken elsewhere across the globe, but the disease statistics from that country seem relatively similar to the statistics from other countries. Florida has been seriously criticized for their laxness in dealing with the virus, yet the statistics on the disease from that state are on average with the country. Wisconsin was seriously criticized for holding elections during the pandemic, but there was no statistical bump in cases after that election.

Many people looking at Sweden’s approach to the virus now are saying that it’s possible that their approach is working, but we should probably wait and see. I’m not sure that I agree with that. Our approach to this virus has produced undeniable human and financial costs which millions of people will spend the rest of their lives struggling to overcome. If it is unclear that we are gaining anything through the draconian measures we have taken, then why is it necessary to continue them?

If you support a policy that is causing millions upon millions of women and children around the world to suffer serious abuse, is seriously harming the mental health of millions, is causing widespread joblessness and financial ruin, is destroying the retirement savings of people who have toiled their entire lives, and is seriously undermining civil rights, is asking to see tangible benefits from that policy unreasonable?

The burden of proof for such a policy’s effectiveness should not rest on those who question its merits. If you support this policy, then the burden of proof lies on you.

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