Law Commons^™

Why A Conviction Should Not Be Based On A Single Piece Of Evidence: A Proposal For Reform, Boaz Sangero, Mordechai Halpert

Prof. Boaz Sangero

This article illustrates a serious flaw in the conventional legal approach enabling a conviction based solely on one piece of evidence. This flaw derives from a cognitive illusion referred to as “the fallacy of the transposed conditional.” People might assume a low error rate in evidence only leads to a small percentage of wrongful convictions. We show that, counterintuitively, even a very low error rate might lead to a wrongful conviction in most cases where the conviction is based on a single piece of evidence. Case law has indicated some awareness of this fallacy, primarily when considering the random match …

Preparing Your Witness: Do’S And Don’Ts, J. Palmer Lockard Ii

J. Palmer Lockard II

Forensic Science: Grand Goals, Tragic Flaws, And Judicial Gatekeeping, Jane Campbell Moriarty

Jane Campbell Moriarty

In the last decade, a number of scientists have published articles and testified in court, explaining the ways in which they believe that some of the forensic sciences do not meet reliability standards and that laboratories make errors. The explosion of exonerations resulting from DNA technology has raised questions about the accuracy of many forensic sciences and the quality of some laboratory testing. A substantial number of these defendants can point to erroneous forensic science as a contributing cause of their wrongful convictions. In the courts, increasingly, the parties have substantial and serious disagreements about the quality of forensic science. …

Njc Deskbook On Evidence For Administrative Law Judges, Chris Mcneil

Christopher B. McNeil, J.D., Ph.D.

Provides summaries of frequently-encountered evidence rules, with checklists for ALJs and others working in administrative adjudications.

Evidence And The One Liner: A Beginning Evidence Professor’S Exploration Of The Use Of Humor In The Law School Classroom, John J. Capowski

John J. Capowski

No abstract provided.

Wonders Of The Invisible World: Prosecutorial Syndrome And Profile Evidence In The Salem Witchcraft Trials, Jane Campbell Moriarty

Jane Campbell Moriarty

The primary aims of this Article are to deconstruct the evidence from the Salem witchcraft trials and to determine whether those prosecutions relied upon syndrome and profile evidence, and whether such evidence played a substantial role in the convictions. The secondary aim is to determine whether modern cases employ evidentiary methods sufficiently similar to the Salem cases such that we should reconsider prosecutorial syndrome and profile evidence. This Article concludes that prosecutorial syndrome evidence and, to a lesser degree, prosecutorial profile evidence, were relied upon in the Salem cases and were important to the convictions. Moreover, in modern cases, which …

Statements Against Interest, Reliability, And The Confrontation Clause, John J. Capowski

John J. Capowski

No abstract provided.

Protecting Criminal Defendants' Rights When The Government Adduces Scientific Evidence: The Confrontation Clause And Other Alternatives─A Response To Professor Giannelli, James W. Diehm

James W. Diehm