Excited Utterance

The Psychological Foundations of Evidence Law. Bobbie Spellman from the University of Virginia discusses her new book with Michael Saks reviewing the psychological literature relevant to our evidentiary rules.

Computer Source Code. Ed Imwinkelried from UC Davis discusses the need for access to automated forensic tools, either for validation testing or for inquiries into the underlying source code.

Questioning Child Witnesses. Tom Lyon from USC Gould School of Law discusses some new techniques for talking to child witnesses, including one technique that seems to increase sensitivity without creating additional false positives.

New Evidence About Circumstantial Evidence. Eyal Zamir from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem discusses some new psychological studies about the anti-inference bias, which causes us to prefer direct evidence over circumstantial evidence in the proof process.

Reclaiming the Importance of the Defendant's Testimony. Anna Roberts from Seattle University discusses the use of a defendant's prior convictions to establish his character for untruthfulness under Rule 609.

The Burdens of Proof. Dale Nance from Case Western Reserve University School of Law disentangles the burden of proof. He argues that while we commonly view the weight of evidence as a holistic concept, it really consists of two parts: discriminatory power and Keynesian weight.

Communicating the Results of Forensic Science Examinations. David Kaye from Penn State Law discusses a new technical report focusing on how best to present forensic results to factfinders.

The Value of Confrontation as a Felony Sentencing Right. Shaakirrah Sanders from the University of Idaho advocates for extending the Confrontation Clause beyond the trial context to felony sentencing hearings.

Informant Witnesses and the Risk of Wrongful Convictions. Jessica Roth from Cardozo Law School takes on the issue of informant witness testimony, arguing that informant testimony is unreliable, often creates serious risks for wrongful conviction, and requires additional safeguards.

John Henry Wigmore and the Rules of Evidence. Andrew Porwancher from the University of Oklahoma talks about his new biography of Wigmore and discusses Wigmore's place in the battle between legal formalism and legal realism.

Machine Testimony. Andrea Roth from Berkeley tackles the problem of evidence generated by machines.

Eying the Body to Find Truth. Daphne O'Regan from Michigan State uses ideas from classical rhetoric to contextualize the norms of courtroom behavior and to explain the assumption that we can assess a witness's credibility by observing demeanor.

Credibility by Proxy. Julia Simon-Kerr from the University of Connecticut discusses the rules governing character evidence of a witness's truthfulness, arguing that they are historically founded on status-based ideas.

Testing for Accuracy in the Forensic Sciences. Jay Koehler from Northwestern University discusses the lack of error rates for forensic techniques.

Juries and Lay Participation. Nancy Marder from Chicago-Kent College of Law offers a comparative perspective on the jury, surveying the different ways in which laypersons are used and controlled in different common law and civil law systems.

Confrontation as a Rule of Production. Pamela Metzger from Tulane argues that the Confrontation Clause should be interpreted as a rule requiring the production of witnesses in criminal trials.

Inside the Cell: The Dark Side of Forensic DNA. Erin Murphy from NYU School of Law discusses some of the often overlooked problems in DNA evidence.

Designing Plea Bargaining from the Ground Up. Stephanos Bibas from the University of Pennsylvania considers whether the evidentiary protections of our criminal justice system are suitable when plea bargaining dominates.

Hindsight Evidence. Maggie Wittlin from the University of Nebraska discusses the use of ex post outcomes to assess a party's ex ante decisions.

Sandy Thompson from the University of Houston discusses the importance of crime lab independence, using Houston's new independent forensic lab as an exemplar.

Memory Errors in Alibi Generation. Deryn Strange from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice discusses the police practice of obtaining alibis, and how errors in alibis can occur innocently but can have a detrimental impact on a defendant’s case.

Unraveling the Conjunction Paradox. Mark Spottswood from Florida State University argues that the conjunction paradox is not a paradox at all, and that we should take seriously its logical implications.

Gatekeeping Science. Christopher Slobogin from Vanderbilt University talks about what aspects of the reliability of expert testimony are for the judge, and which are for the jury?

The Constitutional Accuracy of Legal Presumptions. Sachin Pandya from the University of Connecticut talks about the tough and often nebulous issue of evidentiary presumptions, and the limits placed on them by the Constitution.

Justice Visualized. Mary Fan from the University of Washington discusses increasing use of police body cameras, and how that will affect the proof process in criminal cases