Mostly a shit post. Still after watching court dramas and remembering in civics talking about how supernatural explanations are difficult to use as reasonable doubt. What would happen if supernatural entities were proven a fact?
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I assume you mean it would be harder to convict defendants of a crime because we couldn't be sure whether aliens or ghosts may have framed the defendant or otherwise interfered? I guess that probably would throw a wrench in things, but I think whatever evidence was used to prove the existence of supernatural phenomena would also be required to prove they interfered in a crime. The defense would need some evidence that ghosts or aliens were likely to have been involved and done the things they claimed. After all, if a defendant was the only person known to be present at the location and time of a murder, then we don't just acquit them simply because the victim could have stabbed themselves to death. We would expect some argument for why "stabbed self to death" is a likely and believable cause of death.
I'm talking about the standard of reasonable doubt. If ghost possession was a known phenomenon, like an absolute certainty, would making an argument the ghost made me do it be within the realm of reasonable doubt?
As it is it's not really grounds for reasonable doubt that a ghost did it.
Oh I hadn't thought about possession. If it was a certainty, then I think that could be a reasonable doubt that could lead to acquittal, just like an insanity plea. I still think there would have to at least be some argument to show that someone likely was possessed, such as a psychological assessment to see if their "possessed" behavior was consistent with their usual behavior, if the human displayed knowledge that the human couldn't possibly have while possessed, or if there was any witness account of their head spinning around and their voice becoming deep and creepy during the supposed possession.
You’d scan the supposed possessee for residual traces of ectoplasm to confirm their story