I'm a terrible cynic and I'll say why I don't follow the "treat as innocent until proven guilty" rubric.
One of my last in-field consulting jobs involved what was basically under cover work at a police station. There was a bad actor there. No one wanted to talk, but the Chief and the Sheriff himself wanted more info. So I interviewed a lot of people, hung out a lot, and documented everything. There was one very suspicious person (and several other somewhat suspicious cops). The suspicious cops were pointing fingers elsewhere, duly noted by both me and the Chief.
I could not treat that Suspicious Cop as "innocent until proven guilty." He wasn't proved guilty for five years. He wasn't arrested for 2.5 years. The things I uncovered were not enough to arrest him (but they transferred him to a place where he could be watched better and where, frankly, we were all curious if the suspicious activity suddenly started there - it did). He was never caught on camera (long story).
And he wasn't arrested for anything related to the initial concern. He was arrested for rape.
I thought back about all the times he walked me out to my car (such a gentleman, right?) and stood by my window, telling me his life story. Which I duly recorded. Apparently it helped future investigators shed some light on his other sex crimes.
But seriously, if I treated every suspicious person in my forensic life as "innocent," I might not still be among the living.
If anything, I wish I'd considered that man way more dangerous than I thought at the time. I did take varying routes home, of course, but he had access to my address anyway (all cops can get your home address from your car plates). As it turned out, he had other plans in motion at the time. While he was only convicted of one rape, that was not his only sexual assault.
I use my own personal instincts. When a student plagiarizes and I find the source, they're guilty. I don't file in court (though it's possible to do in theory, the steps to doing it are arcane and useless). They're not innocent and I don't need a court to show that. Bad behavior is what it is. And while I don't automatically assume each cheater is a thief and a rapist, they're definitely on my "do not trust" list.
I consider people who break rules to be closer to breaking laws, and those who break laws are...likely to keep breaking laws unless some major intervention takes place. This is a point of personal protection for me, at my stage in life. I used to go out to prisons and befriend prisoners and be their penpals (when I was aged 18-21). Don't do that any more. Not so trusting.
., but I think many people can tell such a thing, more often than they realize.
