Law Commons^™

The Hearsay Rule At Work: Has It Been Abolished De Facto By Judicial Decision, Eleanor Swift

Eleanor Swift

No abstract provided.

Bill Cosby, The Lustful Disposition Exception, And The Doctrine Of Chances, Wesley Oliver

Wesley M Oliver

The History Of Children's Hearsay: From Old Bailey To Post-Davis, Thomas D. Lyon, Raymond Lamagna

Thomas D. Lyon

The papers in this symposium were originally prepared for the Section on Evidence of the 2007 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Law Schools.

Relevance Ratio: Evaluating The Probative Value Of Expert Testimony In Child Sexual Abuse Cases , Thomas D. Lyon, Jonathan J. Koehler

Thomas D. Lyon

No abstract provided.

The Hallmark Of A Champion—Or Not, Robert Sanger

Robert M. Sanger

Two decisions that just came down, one from the United States Supreme Court and the other from the California Supreme Court. The former is Hall v. Florida and the latter is In re Champion on Habeas Corpus. The Hall and Champion cases, although they do not cite each other, both discuss significant issues with regard to who is eligible for execution under the Atkins decision.

Hall and Champion perpetuate the myth that capital punishment can be imposed accurately and consistently. Additionally, both cases contain serious errors in interpreting science while suggesting that life and death decisions can be based on …

Presenting Expert Testimony - An American Perspective, James Seckinger

James H. Seckinger

No abstract provided.

Evidence In Context: A Trial Evidence Workbook, James Seckinger, Robert Burns, Steven Lubet

James H. Seckinger

No abstract provided.

Criminal And Scientific Evidence: Cases, Materials And Problems, Jimmy Gurule, Robert Goodwin

Jimmy Gurule

No abstract provided.

Criminal And Forensic Evidence: Cases, Materials, Problems. 3rd Edition., Jimmy Gurule, Robert Goodwin

Jimmy Gurule

This unique casebook adopts a modern, comprehensive approach to the study of evidence issues that arise in the context of criminal trial litigation. It covers evidentiary issues associated with the admission of forensic evidence, including expert testimony, as well as traditional evidence issues, such as evidence of prior bad acts offered for purposes other than to prove propensity, and evidence of a rape victim's prior sexual behavior. The materials are presented in two parts that allow for a Criminal Evidence course focused solely on forensic science, solely on traditional criminal evidentiary issues, or a combination of both topics. The Third …

Criminal And Scientific Evidence: Cases, Materials And Problems. 2nd Edition., Jimmy Gurule, Robert Goodwin

Jimmy Gurule

No abstract provided.

Using Video Link To Take Forensic Evidence - Lessons From An Australian Case Study, Anne Wallace

Anne Wallace Professor

This article examines the use of audio-visual communications technology (specifically, video link) to enable courts to receive forensic evidence in criminal cases. It outlines the legislative powers to take evidence via video link in Australia, identifying their broad discretionary nature, and analysing relevant case law on their interpretation. The article then discusses empirical findings from an Australian case study in a jurisdiction where a police forensic service has a policy to promote the use of this technology to take evidence from its staff. The findings suggest that, although the policy has had some success in influencing the approach of courts …

The Persuasive Powers Of Dna: An Experimental Study In Perceptions Of Expert Evidence, Robyn Lincoln, Adam Southerland, Madeleine Jarrett-Luck

Robyn Lincoln

This article presents the results of an experimental study where mock-jurors were tasked with interpreting the presentation of DNA evidence. The 200 university student participants were exposed to one of five murder scenarios where the information about the DNA evidence was manipulated. The results showed that participants were more likely to convict when the DNA match statistic was presented as a probability (0.1%) and focused on the defendant, less likely to convict when it was presented as a frequency (1 in 1,000) and focused on a broader reference group, and even less likely in the control scenario with no DNA …

Equal Access To Evidence: The Case For The Defense Use Of Immunity For Essential Witnesses, Andrea Lyon

Andrea D. Lyon

No abstract provided.

The Importance Of Being Empirical, Michael Heise

Michael Heise

Legal scholarship is becoming increasingly empirical. Although empirical methodologies gain important influence within the legal academy, their application in legal research remains underdeveloped. This paper surveys and analyzes the state of empirical legal scholarship and explores possible influences on its production. The paper advances a normative argument for increased empirical legal scholarship.

Managing Big Data In Complex Litigation, Robert Sanger

Robert M. Sanger

Any lawyer doing complex litigation, civil or criminal, has confronted what seems like an insurmountable sea of data. Many of us have used computer relational database programs and otherwise fought through the mass of information to prepare to try a case. There have been some advancements in managing data made by law enforcement in recent years to make their investigations manageable. During law enforcement investigations, the goal is somewhat different than that of the lawyer preparing for trial; however, the concepts are useful.

Systemic Lying, Julia Simon-Kerr

Julia Simon-Kerr

This Article offers the foundational account of systemic lying from a definitional and theoretical perspective. Systemic lying involves the cooperation of multiple actors in the legal system who lie or violate their oaths across cases for a consistent reason that is linked to their conception of justice. It becomes a functioning mechanism within the legal system and changes the operation of the law as written. By identifying systemic lying, this Article challenges the assumption that all lying in the legal system is the same. It argues that systemic lying poses a particular threat to the legal system. This means that …

Dualism And Doctrine, Alex Stein, Dov Fox

Alex Stein

What kinds of harm among those that tortfeasors inflict are worthy of compensation? Which forms of self-incriminating evidence are privileged against government compulsion? What sorts of facts constitute a criminal defendant’s intent? Existing doctrine pins the answer to all of these questions on whether the injury, facts, or evidence at stake are “mental” or “physical.” The assumption that operations of the mind are meaningfully distinct from those of the body animates fundamental rules in our law.

A tort victim cannot recover for mental harm on its own because the law presumes that he is able to unfeel any suffering arising …

Inefficient Evidence, Alex Stein

Alex Stein

Why set up evidentiary rules rather than allow factfinders to make decisions by considering all relevant evidence? This fundamental question has been the subject of unresolved controversy among scholars and policymakers since it was raised by Bentham at the beginning of the nineteenth century. This Article offers a surprisingly straightforward answer: An economically minded legal system must suppress all evidence that brings along a negative productivity-expense balance and is therefore inefficient. Failure to suppress inefficient evidence will result in serious diseconomies of scale. To operationalize this idea, I introduce a “signal-to-noise” method borrowed from statistics, science, and engineering. This method …

The New Doctrinalism: Implications For Evidence Theory, Alex Stein

Alex Stein

This Article revisits and refines the organizing principles of evidence law: case specificity, cost minimization, and equal best. These three principles explain and justify all admissibility and sufficiency requirements of the law of evidence. The case-specificity principle requires that factfinders base their decisions on the relative plausibility of the stories describing the parties’ entitlement–accountability relationship. The cost-minimization principle demands that factfinders minimize the cost of errors and the cost of avoiding errors as a total sum. The equal-best principle mandates that factfinders afford every person the maximal feasible protection against risk of error while equalizing that protection across the board. …

Law, Science, And The Economy: One Domain?, David S. Caudill

David S Caudill

In an effort to explore the theoretical and practical promise of ignoring or erasing conventional boundaries and distinctions—such as law/society or inside/outside—in accounts of legal processes and institutions, I consider the problem of financial bias in scientific expertise. I first draw an analogy with science studies, and particularly Latour’s notion of science as a coproduction, which challenges the boundaries (i) between science and society, and (ii) between natural and social influences on the production of scientific knowledge. I then acknowledge the efforts of Philip Mirowski, in his concern that privatization trends degrade science, to overcome an individualistic perspective on financial …