Law Commons^™

The Superfluous Rules Of Evidence, Jeffrey Bellin

Faculty Publications

There are few American legal codifications as successful as the Federal Rules of Evidence. But this success masks the project’s uncertain beginnings. The drafters of the Federal Rules worried that lawmakers would not adopt the new rules and that judges would not follow them. As a result, they included at least thirty rules of evidence that do not, in fact, alter the admissibility of evidence. Instead, these rules: (1) market the rules project, and (2) guide judges away from anticipated errors in applying the (other) nonsuperfluous rules.

Given the superfluous rules’ covert mission, it should not be surprising that the …

The Challenge Of Convincing Ethical Prosecutors That Their Profession Has A Brady Problem, Adam M. Gershowitz

Faculty Publications

In recent decades, both the media and legal scholars have documented the widespread problem of prosecutors failing to disclose favorable evidence to the defense – so called Brady violations. Despite all of this documentation however, many ethical prosecutors reject the notion that the criminal justice system has a Brady problem. These prosecutors – ethical lawyers who themselves have not been accused of misconduct – believe that the scope of the Brady problem is exaggerated. Why do ethical prosecutors downplay the evidence that some of their colleagues have committed serious errors?

This essay, in honor of Professor Bennett Gershman, points to …

Deconstructing The Epistemic Challenges To Mass Atrocity Prosecutions, Nancy Amoury Combs

Faculty Publications

Mass atrocity prosecutions are credited with advancing a host of praiseworthy objectives. They are believed to impose much-needed retribution, deter future atrocities, and affirm the rule of law in previously lawless societies. However, mass atrocity prosecutions will accomplish none of these laudable ends unless they are able to find accurate facts. Convicting the appropriate individuals of the appropriate crimes is a necessary and foundational condition for the success of mass atrocity prosecutions. But it is a condition that is frequently difficult to meet, as mass atrocity prosecutions are often bedeviled by pervasive and invidious obstacles to accurate fact-finding. This Article …

Trial By Google: Judicial Notice In The Information Age, Jeffrey Bellin, Andrew Guthrie Ferguson

Faculty Publications

This Article presents a theory of judicial notice for the information age. It argues that the ease of accessing factual data on the Internet allows judges and litigants to expand the use of judicial notice in ways that raise significant concerns about admissibility, reliability, and fair process. State and federal courts are already applying the surprisingly pliant judicial notice rules to bring websites ranging from Google Maps to Wikipedia into the courtroom, and these decisions will only increase in frequency in coming years. This rapidly emerging judicial phenomenon is notable for its ad hoc and conclusory nature—attributes that have the …

Promising Protection: 911 Call Records As Foundation For Family Violence Intervention, James G. Dwyer

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Ehearsay, Jeffrey Bellin

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Book Review Of Fact Finding Without Facts: The Uncertain Evidentiary Foundations Of International Criminal Convictions, Linda A. Malone

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

"Fact-Finding Without Facts": A Conversation With Nancy Combs, Nancy Amoury Combs

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Searching Cell Phones Incident To Arrest: Can Courts And Legislatures Impose Limits On A Bright Line Rule?, Adam M. Gershowitz

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Improving The Reliability Of Criminal Trials Through Legal Rules That Encourage Defendants To Testify, Jeffrey Bellin

Faculty Publications

Reflecting a traditional bias against defendants' trial testimony, the modern American criminal justice system, which now recognizes a constitutional right to testify at trial, unabashedly encourages defendants to waive that right and remain silent. As a result, a large percentage of criminal defendants decline to testify, forcing juries to decide the question of the defendant's guilt without ever hearing from the person most knowledgeable on the subject.

This Article contends that the inflated percentage of silent defendants in the American criminal trial system is a needless, self-inflected wound, neither required by the Constitution nor beneficial to the search for truth. …

Australia And The United States: Two Common Criminal Justice Systems Uncommonly At Odds, Paul Marcus, Vicki Waye

Faculty Publications

At first glance the criminal justice systems of Australia and the United States look strikingly similar. With common law roots from England, they both emphasize the adversary system, the roleof the advocate, the presumption of innocence, and an appeals process. Upon closer reflection,however, they appear starkly different. From both Australian and U.S. perspectives, the authorsexplore those differences, examining important features such as the exclusion of evidence, rules regarding interrogation, the entrapment defense, and the open nature of trials. The Article concludes with an analysis of the reasons for those differences, reasons that heavily relate back to the founding of the …

Some Thoughts On The Evidentiary Aspects Of Technologically Produced Or Presented Evidence, Fredric I. Lederer

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Restrictions On Law Enforcement Investigation And Prosecution Of Crime, Paul Marcus

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Military Rules Of Evidence: Origins And Judicial Implementation, Fredric I. Lederer

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Exclusion Of Evidence In The United States, Paul Marcus

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Taking Evidence And Breaking Treaties: Aerospatiale And The Need For Common Sense, James G. Dwyer, Lois A. Yurow

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Procurement And Presentation Of Evidence In Courts-Martial: Compulsory Process And Confrontation, Fredric I. Lederer, Francis A. Gilligan

Faculty Publications

Although pretrial litigation often seems to render trial on the merits something of an anti-climax, adversarial adjudication is of course the focus of the criminal justice system, military or civilian. Once trial on the merits has begun, trial and defense counsel naturally utilize the rules of evidence in the fashion most likely to make the most of the evidence available to them. Yet, as all lawyers are aware, the period since the enactment of the Uniform Code of Military Justice has brought sweeping changes not only in military criminal law, but also in the "constitutionalization" of the law of evidence. …

The Trade Act Of 1974 Revisited: The Need For Further Reform, Scott C. Whitney

Faculty Publications

Approximately four months after President Ford signed into law the Trade Act of 1974,1 the first petition for import relief was filed invoking the "liberalized" provisions of Title II.2 In the three years since the effective date of the 1974 Act, the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) has instituted investigations concerning a wide variety of commodities. 3 Nonetheless, even though Congress by enacting the 1974 Act intended to minimize the President's control over trade policy and to make import relief more accessible to both industry and labor, the lTC's recommendations have rarely been followed. This article will analyze the …

Replacing The Exclusionary Rule With Administrative Rulemaking, Francis A. Gilligan, Fredric I. Lederer

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Technical And Scientific Evidence In Administrative Adjudication, Scott C. Whitney

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Doing Away With The Exclusionary Rule, Francis A. Gilligan, Fredric I. Lederer

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Admissibility Of Evidence Found By Marijuana Detection Dogs, Fredric I. Lederer, Calvin M. Lederer

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Marijuana Dog Searches After United States V. Unrue, Fredric I. Lederer, Calvin M. Lederer

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.