coolandhot

In some countries a person is considered innocent until proven guilty. In other countries, people can be arrested and will be detained until they are proven innocent.

Lalaguayaba

Funny, both of those circumstances occur in the U.S., under the Homeland Security Act, the gov't can tap your phones, read your email, check your banking records, etc., and just arrest you and hold you w/o charges if they feel you pose a security risk.

But I'm fairly sure that is not your were speaking of; the difference between English law and Napoleanic law. English law is widely perceived to be the 'innocent until proven guilty' version, and Napoleanic to be 'guilty until proven innocent,' which is rather unfortunate, because it really isn't (or shouldn't be) practiced that way at all. I think that Napoleanic law is terribly misunderstood in the U.S. because we've all heard the horror stories/urban legends of Mexican jails, Turkish prisons, South American jails, etc. A lot of this stuff pops up to illustrate the amazing amounts of corruption that are present in these countries; The, "I, uh, know a guy who got out of a speeding ticket in Juarez just by putting a $10 bill in his passport!" story, etc. The "I wasn't trafficking in illegal narcotics. The cops must have put those 2 kilos in my bag when I wasn't looking!" story.

Napoleanic law is commonly practiced in countries that are former French or Spanish colonies; English law...well, you get the picture.
Specific laws and penalties change from country to country, for serious info just get to reading the U.N. and C.I.A. factbooks, and the country's official website.

Cheers.

themark

Thanks for all the information!

I was reading up on it in Wikipedia, and I came across this:

Lalaguayaba

I'd love for that to be true; try handling a parking/driving violation in a place where the police make $275/month--if you have an American (any 1st world one will do) passport, you're guilty until you cough up $20. Attempt to freak out and the penalties may suddenly increase...and then you may be sorry that you didn't memorize the address and telephone number of your embassy or consulate.
Luckily, for every horror story, there are at least 10 good ones, and tourism bureaus are always trying to even out heavy-handed police tactics. Basically just watch yourself, and be ridiculously polite--that bill folded into your passport that barely pays for a movie ticket in your home country feeds that cops family for a week...

Cheers.

GordonS

LOL..... That reminds me of when I was 19 years old and had driven from Canada to Panama with two buddies. (1966) . Sideswiped by a bus at night in San José , CR. We all paraded over to the police station where we sat around for about 3 hours. Finally the desk officer told us that we would have to pay $10.00 for the "paper work" . Being young, gullible and (polite) Canadians, we said okay, paid it and away we went. Some friends in CR later told us that we had just bribed that desk officer. Now if I could just remember his name ...........

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Gordon and Randy,
Canada

coolandhot

$10.00 is pretty cheap for a bribe. Too bad you didn't give it to him 3 hours earlier.

Panamax

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"Few cities in Latin America can match the diversity, cosmopolitanism and sheer energy of Panama City..." - THE ROUGH GUIDE

fxtrader

I'm not sure about Panama, but I've been to court in the states, and I tell ya, you'd be hard pressed to make me believe that the entire burden of proof did not fall on myself and my attorneys. The whole thing stunk of guilty until proven innocent. Seriously, I was put on something called "pre-trial services" which is the exact same thing as probation only BEFORE you go to court and before anyone finds you guilty. If court goes in your favor it's all fine and dandy and you're off it, but in the two months leading up to the court date... I WAS on probation. Good thing I was able to prove my case because as minor as it may have been, it still made me ridiculously angry. How do you put someone on probation before you prove guilt? I dunno... but I'm living proof it happens in some municipalities in the US.

fxtrader

Want to talk about young ang gullible. I was pulled over in Ensenada, Mexico when I was 19 for running a stop sign. I paid $20 for the "fine" and was sent on my way. About 3 hours later we were coming back from the hotel and damn if there was absolutley no stop sign. No intersection to be more precise

zog

I hope panama is innocent until proven guilty. If panamanians can all look alike to those of european extraction then I can imagine it would be the same for panamanians with europeans - yes, officer, he was tall, white, with blue eyes and fair hair :-D Would not be nice to be arrested because someone thought you were someone else.

But if it works out guilty until proven innocent, surely the prosecution would be relatively poor. And surely absence of evidence counts as evidence for the defense. Your fingerprints or DNA were not found at the crime scene must surely undermine a prosecution's case, and if not then guilty until proven innocent would be an absurd legal basis for the law.

MRWOOHOO

I think fxtrader has a good point about guilt and innocence. Nowadays it seems that no matter what country you go to (except Holland) you will have some level of guilt pointed at you until you can prove that you are innocent. In the sales field this is considered the "assumption close". I think there is a human tendency for people to lean towards thinking the worst. Also if you are a judge or a police officer there is greater job security if you are locking up "the bad guy". In regards to Panama I don't get the feeling that the country really truly wants to start locking up people, especially foreign investors. Just really bad for business. This country is probably one of the epicenters for the "war on drugs" but they are not nearly as hard as other countries in Latin America. I just came back from Ecuador and people are really scared of the police. Panama is relaxed in comparison, trust me. That does not mean anything goes. This country has and will lock you up if you are stupid enough.

MRWOOHOO

Almost every checkpoint I have been through in this country, except Chiriqui, I have been waved through. This is more than likely due to the fact that I am obviously not from Latin America. Also keep in mind that does set a double standard so tread lightly.