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Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

2005

Evidence

Cornell University Law School

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Law

Can Judges Ignore Inadmissible Information? The Difficulty Of Deliberately Disregarding, Andrew J. Wistrich, Chris Guthrie, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski Apr 2005

Can Judges Ignore Inadmissible Information? The Difficulty Of Deliberately Disregarding, Andrew J. Wistrich, Chris Guthrie, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Due process requires courts to make decisions based on the evidence before them without regard to information outside of the record. Skepticism about the ability of jurors to ignore inadmissible information is widespread. Empirical research confirms that this skepticism is well-founded. Many courts and commentators, however, assume that judges can accomplish what jurors cannot. This article reports the results of experiments we have conducted to determine whether judges can ignore inadmissible information. We found that the judges who participated in our experiments struggled to perform this challenging mental task. The judges had difficulty disregarding demands disclosed during a settlement conference, …


The Tricky Nature Of Proving Genocide Against Saddam Hussein Before The Iraqi Special Tribunal, Michael J. Kelly Jan 2005

The Tricky Nature Of Proving Genocide Against Saddam Hussein Before The Iraqi Special Tribunal, Michael J. Kelly

Cornell International Law Journal

In this article in the Symposium on Milosevic & Hussein on Trial, the author discusses procedural challenges to proving genocide in the trial of Saddam Hussein to argue that the legitimacy of the Iraqi Special Tribunal (IST) & the proof of genocide rest on a sense of fairness, transparency, & completion of trials on a reasonable schedule. The Geneva Convention definition of genocide is discussed in terms of the impact of general verses specific intent in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). A historical analysis of the colonial creation of Iraq relates Saddam's style of government control …