Petition · past parliament

Make cases of historical sex crimes have to be proved beyond reasonable doubt

Rejected 12 signatures

What the petition asks

I am reading too many stories in the Prisoner paper "Inside Time" about elderly men being convicted of historical sex crimes with no evidence to support the conviction and with the defence having to "try" and prove innocense of a crime that may have been made up..

Why it was rejected

It was not clear what the petition asked the UK Government or Parliament to do.

All crimes have to be proven beyond reasonable doubt. That is the standard of proof in all criminal trials in England and Wales. It's not clear what else you want the Government or Parliament to do.

Timeline

3 Jul 2016 Petition opened for signatures
21 Jul 2016 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 12
Status Rejected
Rejected 21 Jul 2016

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.