Evidence Commons^™

Giving Purpose To Your Life As A Legal Writer, David Spratt

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

The Promise And Pitfalls Of Empiricism In Educational Equality Jurisprudence, Lia Epperson

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Ending Silence: Youth Speaking Up About Sexual Abuse In Custody - Carol’S Question, Brenda V. Smith, Stephanie A. Kinard, Jaime M. Yarussi, Michael J. Auger

Reports

focusing on sexual minority youth

Ending Silence: Youth Speaking Up About Sexual Abuse In Custody - Sheila’S Dilemma, Brenda V. Smith, Stephanie A. Kinard, Jaime M. Yarussi, Michael J. Auger

Reports

focusing on female youth age 14-18

Ending Silence: Youth Speaking Up About Sexual Abuse In Custody - Mary’S Friend, Brenda V. Smith, Stephanie A. Kinard, Jaime M. Yarussi, Michael J. Auger

Reports

focusing on female youth age 10-13

Ending Silence: Youth Speaking Up About Sexual Abuse In Custody - Charlie’S Report, Brenda V. Smith, Stephanie A. Kinard, Jaime M. Yarussi, Michael J. Auger

Reports

focusing on male youth age 10-13

Ending Silence: Youth Speaking Up About Sexual Abuse In Custody - Billy Speaks Out, Brenda V. Smith, Stephanie A. Kinard, Jaime M. Yarussi, Michael J. Auger

Reports

focusing on male youth age 14-18

Session One: Using Forensic Medical Evidence In Court, Juan E. Mendez

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Writings On The Wall: The Need For An Authorship-Centric Approach To The Authentication Of Social-Networking Evidence, Ira P. Robbins

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

People are stupid when it comes to their online postings. The recent spate of social-networking websites has shown that people place shocking amounts of personal information online. Unlike more traditional modes of communication, the unique nature of these websites allows users to hide behind a veil of anonymity. But while social-networking sites may carry significant social benefits, they also leave users—and their personal information—vulnerable to hacking and other forms of abuse. This vulnerability is playing out in courtrooms across the country and will only increase as social-networking use continues to proliferate. This Article addresses the evidentiary hurdle of authenticating social-networking …

A Punishing Court Docket, Stephen Wermiel

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Section 1983 & The Age Of Innocence: The Supreme Court Carves A Procedural Loophole For Post-Conviction Dna Testing In Skinner V. Switzer, Gabriel A. Carrera

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Arrival Then Denial: Interpreting §203(A) Of The Clean Air Act, Analyzing Evidentiary Challenges, & Assessing Conflicting Statutory Directives, Jesse Levine

Distinguished Student Research Papers

An “arrival then denial” occurs when uncertified engines arrive at a U.S. port, but are denied entry to the U.S. by Customs & Border Protection (Customs). Why does this matter? In most cases these uncertified engines are sent back to the country of origin. However, due to resource constraints, a sizeable number of uncertified engines slip past Customs and enter the U.S. each year. Uncertified engines, without proper controls, have been estimated to emit at least 30% more emissions than their certified counterparts. Such emissions exacerbate climate change, acid rain, and air quality generally. EPA attorneys assert that their best …

Expanding The Scope Of The Good-Faith Exception To The Exclusionary Rule To Include A Law Enforcement Officer's Reasonable Reliance On Well-Settled Case Law That Is Subsequently Overruled , Ross M. Oklewicz

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Introductory Note For The International Criminal Court, Susana Sacouto

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

INTRODUCTION: On February 3, 2010, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued its judgment on the appeal of the Prosecutor against the decision of the Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC) denying his application for an arrest warrant against President of Sudan, Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir in relation to the crime of genocide. Holding that the PTC had applied an erroneous standard of proof, the Appeals Chamber reversed the PTC's decision and directed it to reconsider whether the warrant should be issued in light of the Appeals Chamber's discussion of the appropriate standard of proof.

A Hedgehog On The Witness Stand-What's The Big Idea?: The Challenges Of Using Daubert To Assess Social Science And Nonscientific Testimony, Maxine D. Goodman

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Reason To Doubt: The Suppression Of Evidence And The Inference Of Innocence, Cynthia E. Jones

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

The government’s duty to disclose favorable evidence to the defense under Brady v. Maryland has become one of the most unenforced constitutional mandates in criminal law. The intentional or bad faith withholding of Brady evidence is by far the most egregious type of Brady violation and has led to wrongful convictions, near executions, and other miscarriages of justice. This Article suggests that two ramifications should flow from intentional Brady violations. First, courts should have the power to inform the jury of the government’s Brady misconduct by imposing a specially crafted punitive jury instruction. Unlike the ineffective sanctioning scheme currently used …

Stepping Out Of The Vehicle: The Potential Of Arizona V. Gant To End Automatic Searches Incident To Arrest Beyond The Vehicular Context , Angad Singh

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Introduction To Panel On Gender Crimes At The International Level Proceedings Of The Third International Humanitarian Law Dialogs, Susana Sacouto

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

INTRODUCTION: On February 3, 2010, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued its judgment on the appeal of the Prosecutor against the decision of the Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC) denying his application for an arrest warrant against President of Sudan, Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir in relation to the crime of genocide. Holding that the PTC had applied an erroneous standard of proof, the Appeals Chamber reversed the PTC's decision and directed it to reconsider whether the warrant should be issued in light of the Appeals Chamber's discussion of the appropriate standard of proof.

Managing The Unmanageable: A Brief Accounting Of A Special Master’S Thirty Years Of Experience In Complex Litigation, Paul Rice

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

Managing an efficient, but fair, pretrial process in a large and complex case has always been a challenge. With the advent of electronic communications and the corresponding explosion of privilege claims, this challenge has become significantly more difficult. Indeed, it is not uncommon for corporate parties to assert tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of privilege claims. Furthermore, the resolution of these privilege questions is often compounded by difficult choice of law questions that can have the result of different substantive principles being applied to identical discovery demands originating in different jurisdictions. Additionally, before addressing the increasingly voluminous …

Brief Of Former Article Iii Judges And Law Professors As Amici Curiae In Support Of Respondent, Mohawk Industries V. Carpenter, Stephen I. Vladeck

Amicus Briefs

The burden on the thirteen Article III Courts of Appeals has increased significantly in recent years. Data maintained by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts demonstrate the increasing numerical caseload of the Article III courts of appeals over the last 5, 10, and 25 year periods, even as the number of congressionally authorized judgeships has remained almost static, and the real-dollar value of judicial budgets - including salaries - has decreased.

However, the data tell only part of the story. The same period has also witnessed a subtle but more profound change in the substantive nature of some classes …

The Right Remedy For The Wrongly Convicted: Judicial Sanctions For Destruction Of Dna Evidence, Cynthia E. Jones

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

Many state innocence protection statutes give courts the power to impose appropriate sanctions when biological evidence needed for postconviction DNA testing is wrongly destroyed by the government. Constitutional claims based on wrongful evidence destruction are governed by the virtually insurmountable "bad faith" standard articulated in Arizona v. Youngblood. The wrongful destruction of DNA evidence in contravention of state innocence protection laws, however, should be governed by the standards used to adjudicate other "access to evidence" violations in criminal cases, including disclosures mandated by the rules of criminal procedure, the Jencks Act, and Brady v. Maryland. Under the "access to evidence" …

Reforming The State Secrets Privilege, Amanda Frost

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Bosnia V. Serbia: Lessons From The Encounter Of The International Court Of Justice With The International Criminal Tribunal For The Former Yugoslavia, Rebecca Hamilton, Richard J. Goldstone

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

This article uses the recent judgment of the ICJ in Bosnia v. Serbia to highlight the potential problems that arise when international courts have to adjudicate on overlapping situations. It describes the dispute between the ICJ and the ICTY on the appropriate legal standard for the attribution of state responsibility, and finds that the ICJ’s approach in this case suggests that those keen to minimize the fragmentation of international law between adjudicative bodies should not overlook the need for consistency within those bodies.With regard to fact finding, this article raises serious concerns about the manner in which the ICJ relied …

The 'High Crime Area' Question: Requiring Verifiable And Quantifiable Evidence For Fourth Amendment Reasonable Suspicion Analysis, Andrew Ferguson, Damien Bernache

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

This article proposes a legal framework to analyze the "high crime area" concept in Fourth Amendment reasonable suspicion challenges.Under existing Supreme Court precedent, reviewing courts are allowed to consider that an area is a "high crime area" as a factor to evaluate the reasonableness of a Fourth Amendment stop. See Illinois v. Wardlow, 528 U.S. 119 (2000). However, the Supreme Court has never defined a "high crime area" and lower courts have not reached consensus on a definition. There is no agreement on what a "high-crime area" is, whether it has geographic boundaries, whether it changes over time, whether it …

More Views From The Ivory Tower: The Kiss Principle - Keep It Simple, Solicitor, David Spratt

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Procuring The Right To An Unfair Trial: Federal Rule Of Evidence 804(B)(6) And The Due Process Implications Of The Rule's Failure To Require Standards Of Reliability For Admissible Evidence, Kelly Rutan

American University Law Review

This Comment argues that though the doctrine of forfeiture by wrongdoing allows a court to forfeit both a defendant’s right to object to the admission of hearsay statements and the right of confrontation, the current state of the law requires all out-of-court statements admitted under Rule 804(b)(6) to possess some level of reliability in order to satisfy due process. Part I of this Comment discusses the doctrine of forfeiture by wrongdoing, the courts’ treatment of this principle prior to 1997, and its codification into the Federal Rules of Evidence. Part II looks at Confrontation Clause issues unique to hearsay exceptions …

I Am Certain He Is The Man...I Think, Tim Harris

The Modern American

No abstract provided.

Evolving Evidentiary Needs: A Neglected Responsibility, Paul Rice

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Evidence Destroyed, Innocence Lost: The Preservation Of Biological Evidence Under Innocence Protection Statutes, Cynthia Jones

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

2003 Trademark Law Decisions Of The Federal Circuit, Roberta Horton, Catherine Rowland

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.