Blackstone's ratio

proper noun

The ratio of guilty people who go unpunished by the law to innocent people who are unjustly convicted.

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Meanings

proper noun
  1. The ratio of guilty people who go unpunished by the law to innocent people who are unjustly convicted.

Origin

After the English jurist William Blackstone, who wrote, "It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer."

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Cite this entry
APA

Blackstone's ratio. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Blackstone's%20ratio

MLA

“Blackstone's ratio.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Blackstone's%20ratio. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Blackstone's ratio,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Blackstone's%20ratio.

Source: Blackstone's ratio on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.