Law Commons^™

The Incongruence Principle Of Evidence, Hillel Bavli

Indiana Law Journal

Evidence law assumes that the meaning and value of information at trial is equal to the meaning and value of the same information in the real world. This premise underlies evidence policy, judicial applications of evidence law, and instructions to jurors for evaluating evidence. However, it is incorrect, and the law’s failure to recognize this hinders its aims of accuracy and equality.

In this article, I draw on fields outside of law—including Bayesian inference and cognitive psychology—to develop a model of evidence that describes how jurors combine new evidence with prior beliefs (or “priors”) to make inferences and judgments. I …

Can Speech Act Theory Save Notice Pleading?, Susan E. Provenzano

Indiana Law Journal

Countless scholars have debated—and lower courts have attempted to apply—the plausibility pleading regime that the Supreme Court introduced in Twombly and Iqbal. Iqbal took Twombly’s requirement that a complaint plead plausibly and turned it into a two-step test. Under that test, the life or death of a lawsuit rests on the distinction between “well-pleaded” and “conclusory” allegations. Only the former are assumed true on a motion to dismiss. Seven decades of pleading precedent had taken a sensible, if unstable, approach to the truth assumption, making a single cut between factual contentions (assumed true) and legal conclusions (ignored). But Iqbal redrew …

The Noisy "Silent Witness": The Misperception And Misuse Of Criminal Video Evidence, Aaron M. Williams

Indiana Law Journal

This Note examines recent developments in the research of situational video evidence biases. Part I examines the current and growing body of psychological research into the various situational biases that can affect the reliability of video evidence and the gaps in this research that require further attention from researchers and legal academics. Because these biases do not “operate in a vacuum,” Part I also examines some of the recent and exciting research into the interaction between situational and dispositional biases. Part II examines the development of camera and video processing technology and its limitations as a means of mitigating such …

Surrogate Testimony After Williams: A New Answer To The Question Of Who May Testify Regarding The Contents Of A Laboratory Report, Jennifer Alberts

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Seeing Is Believing: The Anti-Inference Bias, Eyal Zamir Prof., Ilana Ritov, Doron Teichman

Indiana Law Journal

A large body of studies suggests that people are reluctant to impose liability on the basis of circumstantial evidence alone, even when this evidence is more reliable than direct evidence. Current explanations for this pattern of behavior focus on factors such as the tendency of fact finders to assign low subjective probabilities to circumstantial evidence, the statistical nature of such evidence, and the fact that direct evidence can rule out with greater ease any competing factual theory regarding liability. This Article describes a set of four new experiments demonstrating that even when these factors are controlled for, the disinclination to …

The Unabomber Revisited: Reexamining The Use Of Mental Disorder Diagnoses As Evidence Of The Mental Condition Of Criminal Defendants, Adam K. Magid

Indiana Law Journal

This Article revisits a longstanding debate concerning the appropriateness of diagnostic evidence in criminal cases in which a defendant’s mental condition is at issue. As illustrated through a case study of Theodore Kaczynski, more widely known as the “Unabomber,” a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia poses a risk of confounding a judge or jury attempting to ascertain an accurate picture of the mental state of a criminal defendant, specifically by (i) suggesting symptoms not actually present, (ii) creating a distorted picture of symptoms that are present, and (iii) suggesting organic, determinative factors as the mechanism behind a defendant’s actions, even where …

Comments On Child Abuse Litigation In A "Testimonial" World: The Intersection Of Competency, Hearsay, And Confrontation, Myrna S. Raeder

Indiana Law Journal

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.

Toward A History Of Children As Witnesses, David S. Tanenhaus, William Bush

Indiana Law Journal

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.

Kids Say The Darndest Things: The Prosecutorial Use Of Hearsay Statements By Children, Tom Lininger

Indiana Law Journal

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.

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

Indiana Law Journal

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.

Daubert's Erie Problem, Jennifer M. Wolsing

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

When Mohammed Goes To The Mountain: The Evidentiary Value Of A View, Layne S. Keele

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

In Search Of A Theory Of Public Memory: The State, The Individual, And Marcel Proust, Brian F. Havel

Indiana Law Journal

This Article posits the existence and pervasiveness of an official public (or State) memory that is primarily constructed using public law devices and statements of official policy. While official public memory serves the purposes of social control and stability, it also seeks to mask contestation and is, accordingly, neither complete nor authentic. Using philosophical, scientific, and literary sources, this Article demonstrates how the affective (emotional) memory that is unique to individuals creates a permanent potential for contestation and authenticity and therefore sets a natural conceptual limit to the power of officially managed memory to contrive the past. To help establish …

Not "Voluntary" But Still Reasonable: A New Paradigm For Understanding The Consent Searches Doctrine, Ric Simmons

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Revisiting Indiana's Rule Of Evidence 404(B) And The Lannan Decision In Light Of Federal Rules Of Evidence 413-415, Ellen H. Meilaender

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Insurance-Weight Of Evidence-Construction Of Policy-Proximate Cause

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

In Defense Of The Character Evidence Prohibition: Foundations Of The Rule Against Trial By Character, David P. Leonard

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Expert Witnesses Under Rules 703 And 803(4) Of The Federal Rules Of Evidence: Separating The Wheat From The Chaff, L. Timothy Perrin

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Allocating The Burden Of Proof, Bruce L. Hay

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Preventing The Discovery Of Plaintiff Genetic Profiles By Defendants Seeking To Limit Damages In Personal Injury Litigation, Mark A. Rothstein

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Text, Texts, Or Ad Hoc Determinations: Interpretation Of The Federal Rules Of Evidence, Randolph N. Jonakait

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

"Lies, Damned Lies, And Statistics"? Psychological Syndrome Evidence In The Courtroom After Daubert, Krista L. Duncan

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Factors For Reasonable Suspicion: When Black And Poor Means Stopped And Frisked, David A. Harris

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Experts, Liars, And Guns For Hire: A Different Perspective On The Qualification Of Technical Expert Witnesses, Christopher P. Murphy

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Title Vii Pretext Question: Resolved In Light Of St. Mary's Honor Center V. Hicks, Robert J. Smith

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Beyond Maryland V. Craig: Can And Should Adult Rape Victims Be Permitted To Testify By Closed-Circuit Television?, Lisa Hamilton Thielmeyer

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Modern Confession Law After Duckworth V. Eagan: What's The Use Of Explaining?, Julia C. Weissman

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Drug Testing And Welfare: Taking The Drug War To Unconstitutional Limits?, Philippa M. Guthrie

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Political-Choice Approach To Limiting Prejudicial Evidence, J. Alexander Tanford

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Bodily Intrusion In Search Of Evidence: A Study In Fourth Amendment Decisionmaking, Michael G. Rogers

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.