The Non-Observance of the Principle of Presumption of Innocence and the Culture of Cancellation: An Essay on the Maskaro Case

Abstract

The Intercept recently published a report describing alleged sexual crimes committed by Dr. Alysson Leandro Mascaro, a law professor at the University of São Paulo (USP), against some of his current and former students. As has been the case recently in every incident involving public figures, the online publications of the newspaper that ran the story were soon flooded with comments condemning the accused based on “rumors” and “stories.” Based on this, the present manuscript aims to argue that the principle of the presumption of innocence must be respected—both by the media, which must refrain from sensationalizing the accusation, and by those who comment on the cases, even if they are laypeople and, therefore,  hold opinions lacking the necessary theoretical foundation, resulting in a phenomenon that is extremely harmful to the accused and to society as a whole—the so-called “cancel culture”—which leads to the accused being treated as a criminal, even before a final conviction has been handed down.