The purpose of this paper is to open up a discussion regarding the potential shift from the presumption of innocence to a presumption of guilt regarding those suspected of or charged with sexual offending. It is acknowledged that further investigation is needed and it is hoped that this discussion is one of many. The crux of this paper therefore is that sex offender suspects and defendants potentially find themselves in a criminal injustice system. Whilst the focus is predominantly on ‘victims’ (usually female) and people suspected or charged with sexual offending (usually male) within the criminal justice system in England and Wales the concerns articulated here are not confined to this context. For example such concerns are echoed in relation to the potential injustices occurring on American campuses. This demonstrates that this is a domestic and international situation and a situation that extends beyond the criminal justice system. We argue that what is occurring at home and abroad has to be contextualised with regard to public, media and official attitudes and approaches to ‘victims’, suspects, defendants, sex, sexual consent, sexual offending and a subsequent shift from the presumption of innocence to a presumption of guilt. It is argued that not only is the presumption of innocence undermined by the presumption of guilt regarding suspects and defendants in cases of sexual offending, it is also undermined in England and Wales by the victim personal statement (VPS). The VPS contains and promotes the idea that there is a ‘victim’ and ‘offender’ before this has been legally established in a court of law. These assumptions embodied within the VPS weaken the principle and practice of the presumption of innocence. The safeguard of the presumption of innocence is potentially under threat and the result is an even greater potential for miscarriages of justice and wrongful convictions.

中文翻译：

---

刑事不公正制度？性犯罪嫌疑人和被告

本文旨在展开讨论，讨论从无罪推定到对涉嫌或被指控犯有性犯罪的人的有罪推定的潜在转变。承认需要进一步调查，希望这次讨论是众多讨论之一。因此，本文的关键是性犯罪嫌疑人和被告可能会发现自己处于刑事不公正制度中。虽然重点主要放在英格兰和威尔士刑事司法系统内的“受害者”（通常是女性）和涉嫌或被指控犯有性犯罪的人（通常是男性）上，但这里所表达的关注并不限于这种情况。例如，这种担忧与美国校园中可能发生的不公正现象有关。这表明，这是一种国内和国际形势，是一种超越刑事司法系统的形势。我们认为，国内外正在发生的事情必须根据公众、媒体和官方对“受害者”、嫌疑人、被告、性、性同意、性犯罪以及随后从无罪推定的转变的态度和方法来进行情境化。到有罪推定。有人认为，在性犯罪案件中，嫌疑人和被告人的有罪推定不仅破坏了无罪推定，而且在英格兰和威尔士，受害者个人陈述 (VPS) 也破坏了无罪推定。VPS 包含并宣扬这样一种观念，即在法院依法成立之前存在“受害者”和“犯罪者”。VPS 中体现的这些假设削弱了无罪推定的原则和实践。无罪推定的保障可能受到威胁，其结果是更有可能发生误判和错误定罪。