Law Commons^™

Evidence Engendered, Kit Kinports

Kit Kinports

Part I of this article briefly describes feminist legal theory and its evolution. Part II then discusses the extent to which evidence as a whole is a gendered topic that reflects predominantly male traits and ideals, and Part III analyzes various specific evidentiary doctrines from a feminist perspective. Finally, Part IV examines way of incorporating feminist theories in teaching an evidence course.

A Scientific Approach To Scientific Evidence: A Four-Stage Rule For Admissibility And Scope, Robert Sanger

Robert M. Sanger

Scientific or expert testimony is often critical in criminal cases. The Supreme Court has established that the trial judge is the "gatekeeper" who is to determine what evidence is allowed before the jury. The current rules of evidence are not organized in a way that makes this task readily intelligible. This chapter proposes a more direct our-step process to accomplish the gatekeeping function.

Witness Response Manipulation Through Strategic "Non-Leading" Questions (Or The Art Of Getting The Desired Answer By Asking The Right Question), Sydney Beckman

Sydney A. Beckman

No abstract provided.

Federal Objections - Quick Reference Card (2nd Edition) ( Forthcoming), Sydney Beckman

Sydney A. Beckman

No abstract provided.

Brain Trauma, Pet Scans And Forensic Complexity, Jane Moriarty, Daniel Langleben, James Provenzale

Jane Campbell Moriarty

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a medical imaging technique that can be used to show brain function. Courts have admitted PET scan evidence in cases involving brain damage, injury, toxic exposure, or illness ("brain trauma") and to support claims of diminished cognitive abilities and impulse control. Despite the limited data on the relationships between PET, brain trauma and behavior, many courts admit PET scan evidence without much critical analysis. This article examines the use of PET as proof of functional impairment and justification of abnormal behavior by explaining its diagnostic use and limitations, the limited support for claims of its …

Say What?? Confusion In The Courts Over What Is The Proper Standard Of Review For Hearsay Rulings, Todd Bruno

Todd Bruno

Understanding and applying the hearsay rule and its exceptions is probably the most difficult and confusing task for lawyers and trial judges. Understanding and applying the proper standard of review when assessing potential errors of a trial court is probably the most difficult and confusing task for an appellate court. When combining the two concepts, appellate courts cannot figure out whether the analysis of hearsay and its exceptions involves resolution of fact questions, legal questions, or whether it is a matter of discretion of the trial court that should not be reversed unless that discretion was abused. The Sixth and …

The Uniform Provisions Of Evidence: A Major Reform That Maintains China’S Judicial Traditions, John Capowski

John J. Capowski

No abstract provided.

Personal Use Of Workplace Computers: A Threat To Otherwise Privileged Communications, Louise Hill

Louise L Hill

This article is an adaptation of "Gone but Not Forgotten: When Privacy, Policy and Privilege Collide" originally published in the Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property, Volume 9, Issue 8, 2011

China's Evidentiary And Procedural Reforms, The Federal Rules Of Evidence, And The Harmonization Of Civil And Common Law, John J. Capowski

John J. Capowski

Selling Sex: Analyzing The Improper Use Defense To Contract Enforcement Through The Lens Of Carroll Versus Beardon, Julie M. Spanbauer

Julie M. Spanbauer

The 1963 decision of the Supreme Court of Montana in Carroll v. Beardon, occupies less than three full pages in the Pacific Reporter and involves a simple real estate transaction in which a “madam” sold a house used for prostitution to another “madam.” The opinion is the last in a long line of cases to speak specifically to the issue of enforcement of facially legitimate contracts that in some manner arguably involve or are related to prostitution and is commonly cited in treatises and hornbooks as representative of the movement by courts toward enforcement of such contracts under the law …

Selling Sex: Analyzing The Improper Use Defense To Contract Enforcement Through The Lens Of Carroll V. Beardon, Julie M. Spanbauer

Julie M. Spanbauer

The 1963 decision of the Supreme Court of Montana in Carroll v. Beardon, occupies less than three full pages in the Pacific Reporter and involves a simple real estate transaction in which a “madam” sold a house used for prostitution to another “madam.” The opinion is the last in a long line of cases to speak specifically to the issue of enforcement of facially legitimate contracts that in some manner arguably involve or are related to prostitution and is commonly cited in treatises and hornbooks as representative of the movement by courts toward enforcement of such contracts under the law …

Legal Questions And Scientific Answers: Ontological Differences And Epistemic Gaps In The Assessment Of Causal Relations, Lena Wahlberg

Lena Wahlberg

A large number of legal rules create an obligation to prevent, repair or otherwise mitigate damage to human health or the environment. Many of these rules require that a legally relevant causal relation between human behaviour and the damage at issue is established, and in the establishment of causal relations of this kind scientific information is often pressed into service. This thesis examines this specifically legal use of scientific information. It shows that many legally relevant causal relations cannot be established in this way. It also shows that the legal strategy for dealing with epistemic difficulties (uncertainty and ignorance) by …

Safety In Numbers?: Deciding When Dna Alone Is Enough To Convict, Andrea L. Roth

Andrea L Roth

Fueled by police reliance on offender databases and advances in crime scene recovery, a new type of prosecution has emerged in which the government's case turns on a match statistic explaining the significance of a “cold hit” between the defendant’s DNA profile and the crime-scene evidence. Such cases are unique in that the strength of the match depends on evidence that is nearly entirely quantifiable. Despite the growing number of these cases, the critical jurisprudential questions they raise about the proper role of probabilistic evidence, and courts’ routine misapprehension of match statistics, no framework currently exists – including a workable …

Safety In Numbers?: Deciding When Dna Alone Is Enough To Convict, Andrea L. Roth

Andrea L Roth

Fueled by police reliance on offender databases and advances in crime scene recovery, a new type of prosecution has emerged in which the government's case turns on a match statistic explaining the significance of a “cold hit” between the defendant’s DNA profile and the crime-scene evidence. Such cases are unique in that the strength of the match depends on evidence that is nearly entirely quantifiable. Despite the growing number of these cases, the critical jurisprudential questions they raise about the proper role of probabilistic evidence, and courts’ routine misapprehension of match statistics, no framework currently exists – including a workable …

Safety In Numbers?: Deciding When Dna Alone Is Enough To Convict, Andrea L. Roth

Andrea L Roth

Fueled by police reliance on offender databases and advances in crime scene recovery, a new type of prosecution has emerged in which the government's case turns on a match statistic explaining the significance of a “cold hit” between the defendant’s DNA profile and the crime-scene evidence. Such cases are unique in that the strength of the match depends on evidence that is nearly entirely quantifiable. Despite the growing number of these cases, the critical jurisprudential questions they raise about the proper role of probabilistic evidence, and courts’ routine misapprehension of match statistics, no framework currently exists – including a workable …

The Death Of The American Trial, Robert Burns

Robert P. Burns

This book analyzes and criticizes the loss of one of the great achievements of our public culture, the American trial.

Federal Objections - Quick Reference Card, Sydney Aaron Beckman

Sydney A. Beckman

NITA - National Institute of Trial Advocacy Visit www.NITA.org to purchase

Evidence Codification And Transubstantive And Bifurcated Evidence Codes, John Capowski

John J. Capowski

No abstract provided.

Coporate America Fights Back: The Battle Over Waiver Of The Attorney-Client Privilege, Michael L. Seigel

Michael L Seigel

This article address a topic that is the subject of an on-going and heated contest between the business lobby and its lawyers, represented primarily by the American Bar Association, the Association of Corporate Counsel, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, on the one side, and the United States Department of Justice, on the other. The fight is over federal prosecutors’ escalating practice of requesting that corporations accused of criminal wrongdoing waive their attorney-client privilege as part of their cooperation with the government. The Department views privilege waiver as a legitimate and very important tool in its post-Enron battle …

Neuroimaging And The "Complexity" Of Capital Punishment, Orlando Carter Snead

O. Carter Snead

The growing use of brain imaging technology to explore the causes of morally, socially, and legally relevant behavior is the subject of much discussion and controversy in both scholarly and popular circles. From the efforts of cognitive neuroscientists in the courtroom and in the public square, the contours of a project to transform capital sentencing both in principle and practice have emerged. In the short term, such scientists seek to intervene in the process of capital sentencing by serving as mitigation experts for defendants, where they invoke neuroimaging research on the roots of criminal violence to support their arguments. Over …

Pre-Trial Motions And Discovery, Richard Kling

Richard S. Kling

No abstract provided.

The Confrontation Clause And Illinois' Hearsay Exception For Child Sex Abuse Victims, Richard Kling

Richard S. Kling

No abstract provided.

Nita Problems In Evidence: Student Manual, Thomas Reed

Thomas J Reed

No abstract provided.

Cross-Examination Of Breath Alcohol Machine Operators (With G. Sapir), Richard Kling

Richard S. Kling

No abstract provided.

Pre-Trial Procedures And Practice, Richard Kling

Richard S. Kling

No abstract provided.