An accusation is a statement by one person asserting that another person or entity has done something improper. The person who makes the accusation is an accuser, while the subject against whom it is made is the accused. Whether a statement is interpreted as an accusation relies on the

social environment The social environment, social context, sociocultural context or milieu refers to the immediate physical and social setting in which people live or in which something happens or develops. It includes the culture that the individual was educate ...

in which it is made:Peter Tiersma,

Lawrence Solan Lawrence M. Solan (born 1952) is the Don Forchelli Professor of Law and Director of the Center for the Study of Law, Language and Cognition at Brooklyn Law School.

, ''The Oxford Handbook of Language and Law'' (2012), p. 291. An accusation can be made in private or in public, to the accused person alone, or to other people with or without the knowledge of the accused person. An accuser can make an accusation with or without evidence; the accusation can be entirely

speculative Speculative may refer to: In arts and entertainment *Speculative art (disambiguation) *Speculative fiction, which includes elements created out of human imagination, such as the science fiction and fantasy genres **Speculative Fiction Group, a Per ...

, and can even be a

false accusation A false accusation is a claim or allegation of wrongdoing that is untrue and/or otherwise unsupported by facts. False accusations are also known as groundless accusations or unfounded accusations or false allegations or false claims. They can occur ...

, made out of malice, for the purpose of harming the

reputation The reputation of a social entity (a person, a social group, an organization, or a place) is an opinion about that entity typically as a result of social evaluation on a set of criteria, such as behavior or performance. Reputation is a ubiquitous ...

of the accused.

Perceptions

The perceived strength of an accusation is affected by the trustworthiness of the accuser. For example, in

investigative journalism Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...

Accusations and public relations

In journalism, the reporting of an accusation is commonly balanced with an effort to obtain a response to the accusation by the accused person or entity: There is therefore usually an opportunity for the subject of an accusation to respond to it. An accusation made against a

corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...

is often treated as a

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...

event, in which a business is accused of wrongdoing in order to influence its behavior.

Criminal accusations

criminal accusation A criminal accusation is the process of declaring one's belief in another's liability for that other's criminal action(s). A criminal accusation may be informally made through a declaration made to the public at large (generally through news med ...

is a formal accusation made by the state against an individual or enterprise. In addition to the normal elements of an accusation, a criminal accusation specifies that the wrongdoing on the part of the accused constitutes a violation of the law.

References

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Perceptions

Accusations and public relations

Criminal accusations

See also

References