Chapter 3: The Nature of Evidence

Individualization

Categorizing an item in a set or class that has one and only one member.

Hearsay

Testimony that is given by a witness who relates not what he or she knows personally, but what others have said, and that is therefore dependent on the credibility of someone other than the witness.

Assumption of Uniqueness

The ________ in space is an inherently non- provable situation.

Coincidental Associations

Two things which previously have never been in contact with each other have items on them which are analytically indistinguishable at a certain class level.

Identification

________- the examination of the chemical and physical properties of an object and using them to categorize the object as a member of a group.

Prima facie evidence

Evidence that will establish a fact or sustain a judgment unless contradictory evidence is produced.

Evidence

________ is critical to a trial; it provides the foundation for the arguments the attorneys plan to offer.

Contamination

An undesired transfer of information between items of evidence.

Questioned Evidence

Evidence that has unknown sources.

Scientific method

Proposing and refining of plausible explanations about any unknown situation.

Comparison

Done to try to establish the source of evidence.

Controls

Materials whose source is known and which are used for comparison with unknown evidence.

Locard Exchange Principle

It states that information is transferred when two things come into contact.

Conclusive evidence

Evidence so strong as to overbear any other evidence to the contrary

Conflicting evidence

Irreconcilable evidence that comes from different sources

Corroborating evidence

Evidence that differs from but strengthens or confirms other evidence

Derivative evidence

Evidence that is discovered as a result of illegally obtained evidence and is therefore inadmissible because of the primary taint

Exculpatory evidence

Evidence tending to establish a criminal defendants innocence

Foundational evidence

Evidence that determines the admissibility of other evidence

Incriminating evidence

Evidence tending to establish guilt or from which a fact trier can infer guilt

Presumptive evidence

 Evidence deemed true and sufficient unless discredited by other evidence

Probative evidence

 Evidence that tends to prove or disprove a point in issue

Rebuttal evidence

Evidence offered to disprove or contradict the evidence presented by an opposing party

Tainted evidence

Evidence that is inadmissible because it was directly or indirectly obtained by illegal means

Direct Transfer

Evidence that is transferred from a source to a location with no intermediaries

Cross transfer

A Locard's principle, which states that every contact leaves its trace, whether that be someone entering or leaving a scene or someone leaves or picking up evidence

Known Evidence

Evidence that is known where the sample originated

Type I Error

Serious errors because they can cause a person to be falsely incriminated in a crime

Type II Error

Not really serious errors, which means that a person may be falsely exonerated from a crime that he or she really did commit

Hypothesis

Particular questions are tested