In law, a conviction is the verdict that results when a court of law finds a defendant guilty of a crime. The opposite of a conviction is an acquittal (for example "not guilty"). (In Scotland and in the Netherlands there's also a third verdict of "not proven", which counts as an acquittal.) For a host of reasons, the criminal justice system isn't perfect and sometimes guilty defendants are acquitted while innocent people are convicted. Appeal mechanisms mitigate this problem to some extent. An… (More on Conviction)