Criminal Evidence

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that criminal evidence can be (1) physical such as fingerprints and documentary such as a "paper trail", (2) testimony of witnesses from eyewitnesses to expert witnesses or (3) the accused person's confession. The author points out that a confession is only admissible as evidence if the prosecution can show that it was not obtained by any sort of coercion and that the accused person (1) knew that anything he said could be used against him in a court of law, (2) was aware of his right not to speak and (3) knew he had a right to have a lawyer present during police questioning. The paper concludes that, in the Illinois vs. Caballes, the fact that a drug-sniffing dog is intimidating implies a violation of the 4th Amendment and the police did not have probable cause.

From the Paper:

"Evidence may be refutable, that is, it can be shown in court to be untrue, or it may be irrefutable. For instance, for many years fatherhood was irrefutable if the child was born during the marriage of the man to the child's mother. Such a man was not entitled to argue in Court, for example, that the child had blond hair and blue eyes and was 6'4" tall while he had black hair, brown eyes, and was only 5'3", and besides the child looked exactly like the next door neighbor. As long as the man was married to the child's mother when the child was born, he was legally the father of the child. In some cases, this has now changed and fatherhood has become refutable since the introduction of DNA testing where it can be proven that a man is not the father of a child."

More papers on Criminal Evidence:

• Analytical Essay # 123072 : "Criminal Evidence"
• Analytical Essay # 123192 : "Problems with Criminal Evidence"
• Analytical Essay # 7200 : "DNA in Criminal Investigations"

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