Law Commons^™

Brace For Impact: The Effects Of Victim Impact Evidence And Judicial Instructions On Juror Memory Distortion And Sentencing Decisions In Capital Trials, Auset E. Alexander

Student Theses

The utilization of visual evidence in the courtroom has increased exponentially in an effort to portray additional information that cannot otherwise be established via forensic evidence and expert testimony. According to Rule 403 of the Federal Rules of Evidence (1984), visual evidence may be permitted in court if the prejudicial value does not significantly outweigh the probative value. The admissibility of visual evidence however, becomes controversial when combined with victim impact statements (VIS) during the penalty phase of capital trials.

Previous research has indicated that jurors are often unable to perceive emotional testimony and subsequently make objective sentencing decisions that …

Victim Impact Evidence: An Analysis On The Effect Of Victim Impact Evidence On The Sentencing Stage In Death-Penalty Cases And Potential Reforms, Kyle W. Kahan

Kyle W Kahan

No abstract provided.

Drawing The Line At Pushing "Play": Barring Video Montages As Victim Impact Evidence At Capital Sentencing Trials, Alicia N. Harden

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Victim Characteristics And Victim Impact Evidence In South Carolina Capital Cases, Theodore Eisenberg, Stephen P. Garvey, Martin T. Wells

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The use of victim impact evidence (VIE) has been a standard feature of capital trials since 1991, when the Supreme Court lifted the previously existing constitutional bar to such evidence. Legal scholars have almost universally condemned the use of VIE, criticizing it on a variety of grounds. Yet little empirical analysis exists that examines how VIE influences the course and outcome of capital trials. We analyze the influence of VIE based on interviews with over two-hundred jurors who sat on capital trials in South Carolina between 1985 and 2001.

First, we describe the VIE introduced at sentencing trials, using a …

Victim Characteristics And Victim Impact Evidence In South Carolina Capital Cases, Theodore Eisenberg, Stephen P. Garvey, Martin T. Wells

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This article is available at:

http://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/facpub/290/.

The use of victim impact evidence (VIE) has been a standard feature of capital trials since 1991, when the Supreme Court lifted the previously existing constitutional bar to such evidence. Legal scholars have almost universally condemned the use of VIE, criticizing it on a variety of grounds.

Yet little empirical analysis exists that examines how VIE influences the course and outcome of capital trials. Moreover, the handful of empirical analyses that do exist rely on data gathered in simulation studies. Although valuable contributions have emerged from these experimental studies, such studies have often-rehearsed …

Ten Years Of Payne: Victim Impact Evidence In Capital Cases, John H. Blume

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

A little over a decade ago, in Payne v. Tennessee, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for capital sentencing juries to consider “victim impact evidence” (VIE). Reversing its prior decisions in Booth v. Maryland and South Carolina v. Gathers, a six to three majority of the Court held that “if the State chooses to permit the admission of victim impact evidence and prosecutorial argument on that subject, the Eighth Amendment erects no per se bar.” Part I of this Article will discuss the Court’s prior decisions in Booth and Gathers, and Parts II and III will …

Revenge Or Mercy? Some Thoughts About Survivor Opinion Evidence In Death Penalty Cases, Joseph L. Hoffmann

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Due Process

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.