Yesterday when the Cold War group presented, I noticed a recurring theme between communism during the cold war and the crucible. This theme was that an accusation of being either a communist or a witch was not just something you could get out of, it was like a punishment in itself. In the case of the cold war, being a communist was not something a person would like to share with everybody, the social perspective was that they were freedom-hating soviet supporters. So when a person was given a subpoena and asked if they had communist affiliations, the mere suggestion that they did was as good as socially exiling the person. This is because the average person realizes that the government would not take the time to summon a person to court for questioning if they did not have significant evidence to believe that the person was a communist. Although this was not always an accurate assumption, people will assume that the person has communist affiliations and treat them very differently because of it. The same is true for the Crucible where an accusation of witchcraft, although it sounds ridiculous today, was probably similar to an accusation of rape or some other violent crime. Also, since most people decided to plead guilty to save their lives, the general population would have every reason to believe that they were truly witches. And who would want to be friends with a witch, even if they had admitted it? I think it is interesting that sometimes the accusation can be just as bad as a conviction in the eyes of society.
This statement still holds true today. There is a very strong stamina about being accused and tried in court. Regardless of guilt, the public assume that there is credible evidence if you are accused; and that you must have done something wrong. It is sad because oftentimes just the act of going to court, even if found innocent, can ruin reputations and careers.
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