system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: Sexual Harrassment allegations should not be enough to ruin careers or lives

Underpinning our entire justice system are Blackstone's famous words, "It is better to let 10 guilty people go free than 1 innocent person put to death." 

Let me precede my point by stating up front that sexual harassment is an extremely fragile issue, and every alleged victim should be taken completely seriously. Anyone who is proven to have sexually harrassed should receive the full extent of the legal repercussions.

With all these rampant sexual harrassment revelations, I wonder: how anyone can actually prove the guilt of the accused? Are mere accusations enough to ruin lives and careers? What tangible evidence do we have?

We know witness testimony is weak, and we know memory gets hazy. We also know people, especially in Hollywood, can be spiteful, vengeful, and cutthroat--meaning it's not outside the realm of possibility that people would jump on the bandwagon to crush an actor they just personally dislike, or if it helps advance them into the spotlight in some manner.

Innocent until **proven** guilty.

So I ask again, what tangible evidence is there in these recent high profile cases, and should mere allegation absent a day in court be enough to ruin people and pass judgement?

I don't believe so. But CMV if you disagree.

**Edit:** Guys, I cannot commit the same attention I've given this. I've read every comment up until this point. Some great, grounded arguments that I appreciate. I am however still unconvinced, my view remaining broadly the same.

Some argue from a basis of what *is*, but I'm arguing under an ethical case of what *should be*. I believe with such strong allegations, the amount of evidence needs to be more than sequential accusations. The *de facto* damages to these figures, like the *de facto* discrimination of minorities prior to civil rights cases, does not match with the degree and certainty of the evidence. I fear with these precedents that simply making allegations about people we dislike is enough to cripple their livelihoods. This is not to say I'm claiming the accused as innocent in reality,  but merely defaulting to innocence per the ethical framework of Blackstone.
gpt
>Innocent until proven guilty.

This is a legal standard for *legal* repercussions. None of the high profile "cases" you mention involve any legal action at this time. Private enterprises, and society as a whole, are completely above many laws regarding fair treatment or equal protection. That is, private organizations like corporations or private schools are free to discriminate in many ways that public organizations are not. The other side of that, of course, is that they're also freer, in general, to fire alleged bad actors. Of course, most of the time, they protect higher-ups in favor of firing or becoming hostile to in-organization accusers. Ask anybody who has reported sexual harassment to HR.

The other aspect here is "reputation." You're looking at a very brief moment of reputation damage and ignoring the *many many years* that that person's reputation likelier than not *helped them hurt people*. One of the heinous things about Harvey Weinstein's alleged actions is that he *used* his profile and position to help him hurt people and keep them silent. According to many of these allegations, he directly and indirectly intimidated and bullied people to get what he wanted. It *still* wouldn't mean much right now if only a few people had come forward, or only about a few things. The meaning that *most* people see here is the pattern of abuse. At a certain point you need to ask yourself why *so many* people would lie about the exact same sorts of things. In general, people in power are not easily targeted or accused. Did you even know our President had a case for child sexual abuse filed against him a few years back? Did it do *anything* to damage his reputation, or prevent him from the White House?

Finally, there are legal protections for reputation. If Spacey or Weinstein feels these allegations damage their reputations unjustly, they can bring libel/slander suits. Of course, the defense to libel/slander is always truth.