Most people think the benefit of the doubt is compassion. But compassion without verification is negligence. It’s granting someone moral credit they have not earned and cannot uphold. And people rarely respect the generosity they did not have to work for. I. The First Principle: Compassion should never overrule evidence. The moment you give the benefit of the doubt, you silence your own internal witness. Your intuition testifies. Your observations testify. The pattern testifies. But you, acting