In order to know in depth and completely the meaning of the term alibi, we are going to proceed, first of all, to discover its etymological origin. In this case, we can establish that it is a word that derives from Latin. Specifically, it is the result of the sum of the following components:
-The prefix “con-”, which can be translated as “together”.
-The verb “artare”, which is synonymous with “stretch”.
-The suffix “-ada”, which is used to indicate “that has received the action”.
The alibi is a justification or an argument that allows a person to be separated from a certain fact. The concept is usually used with reference to what an individual refers to to demonstrate that he is not the author of a certain crime .
For example: “The suspect's alibi is that, at the time of the murder, he was one hundred kilometers away” , “The new evidence found by investigators demolished the alibi of the official accused of corruption” , “If you don't have an alibi "You could end up in prison."
In the field of criminal law , an alibi is understood as the demonstration of absence at a place where a crime took place . When a subject has an alibi, it demonstrates that he or she was not physically present at the site in question and, therefore, did not have a direct and active participation. The alibi, therefore, is evidence of defense.
Suppose a man is accused of murdering his wife. The crime took place on March 4 at 10 in the morning and a witness claims to have seen an individual in the area with physical characteristics similar to those of the accused. The man, however, has an alibi: he shows, through a plane ticket, a stamp in his passport and a hotel reservation that, that day and at that time, he was in another country, thousands of kilometers away. This alibi is his main defense : he could not have been the perpetrator of the murder since he was no longer in the place where his wife was killed.
In the field of literature, the term in question has been used on numerous occasions to title different works. A good example of this is the novel “The Alibi”, written by Malcom Rose. A book that begins with the discovery of Stuart Burrage's body in his own home. The police begin an investigation and quickly find the culprit.
However, the son of the murdered man is clear that the individual they have caught is not the criminal. He knows that the person responsible for the death is his stepmother and will try to do everything possible to prove it. However, it won't be easy because she has an alibi.
In the cinematographic field we also come across several films that use the term in question in their titles. A good example is the film “The Alibi”, released in 2006 and directed by Kurt Mattila and Matt Checkowski.
Steve Coogan, Rebeca Romjin and Selma Blair are the actors in this feature film that presents a man who runs an alibi service for unfaithful husbands.