chapter 11: the criminal trial

direct evidence

evidence, such as eyewitness testimony, that by itself proves or disproves a fact that is at issue in a case

hearsay evidence

evidence provided by a witness that is based on information provided to the witness by someone else; generally inadmissible, although there are a number of exceptions

indirect evidence

evidence that requires the judge or jury to make interferences about what happened at the scene of the crime or judgements about the defendant’s role in the crime (aka circumstantial evidence)

liberation hypothesis

an exploration for research findings suggesting that legally irrelevant factors (i.e., the race/gender of defendant and victim, behavior of victim at time of the crime) come into play primarily in cases where the evidence is ambiguous and the outcome is therefore less predictable; the liberation hypothesis suggests that when the evidence is uncertain, jurors will be “liberated” from the constraints imposed by the law and will therefore feel free to take legally irrelevant factors into consideration during decision making

mock jury study

a method of studying jury deliberations; researchers use mock juries or mock trials that involve hypothetical scenarios; may be actual mock trials, such as in a university classroom, or simple written scenarios wherein people (often college students) are asked to decide some hypothetical defendant’s fate; then the researchers compare people’s demographic characteristics to the decision they hand down

privilege against self-incrimination

any person charged with an offense cannot be compelled to testify against himself or herself in a criminal trial

privileged communication

an exception to the general rule that all relevant evidence is admissible at trial; certain categories of individuals generally cannot be compelled to testify in criminal cases; this includes spouses, priests, doctors, or lawyers; the things these individuals say to one another are said to be privileged communications

real evidence

evidence that can be admitted into trial that consists of tangible items such as weapons used in the crime, DNA or fingerprints collected at the crime scene, or other “real” objects relevant to the case

testimonial evidence

a classification of evidence that includes the actual testimony provided by a witness during a trial; real evidence is introduced using testimonial evidence