Legal burden of proof

Okay kiddo, picture this: imagine you and your friend are playing a game of hide and seek. You're the seeker and you have to find your friend who's hiding somewhere in your house. But before you can tag your friend and say "gotcha!", you have to prove that you found them. This means you have to show evidence that they are indeed hiding where you found them.

This is similar to the legal concept of burden of proof. When something happens and it needs to be proven in court, the person who is making the claim has what's called the burden of proof. This means they have to show evidence to convince the judge and jury that what they're saying is true.

For example, let's say there's a court case where someone is accused of stealing a cookie from the cookie jar. The person who is accusing them has the burden of proof. They have to show evidence, like maybe they saw the person take the cookie or there's video footage, to convince the judge and jury that the accused person really did steal the cookie.

But if the person who's accused of stealing the cookie says that they didn't, then they don't have the burden of proof. It's up to the person who's making the claim to prove that what they're saying is true.

The burden of proof is like a game of hide and seek, but in court. Instead of finding your friend and proving you found them, you have to prove something happened or didn't happen using evidence.