Proposal to Reverse the View of a Confession: from Key Evidence Requiring Corroboration to Corroboration for Key Evidence
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International Tribunals and Rules of Evidence: the Case for Respecting and Preserving the "Priest-Penitent" Privilege Under International Law
American University International Law Review Volume 15 | Issue 3 Article 3 2000 International Tribunals and Rules of Evidence: The Case for Respecting and Preserving the "Priest- Penitent" Privilege Under International Law Robert John Araujo S.J. Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/auilr Part of the International Law Commons Recommended Citation Araujo, S.J., Robert John. "International Tribunals and Rules of Evidence: The asC e for Respecting and Preserving the "Priest-Penitent" Privilege Under International Law." American University International Law Review 15, no. 3 (2000): 639-666. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Washington College of Law Journals & Law Reviews at Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in American University International Law Review by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNALS AND RULES OF EVIDENCE: THE CASE FOR RESPECTING AND PRESERVING THE "PRIEST-PENITENT" PRIVILEGE UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW ROBERT JOHN ARAUJO, S.J." INTRODUCTION .............................................. 640 I. THE PRIEST-PENITENT PRIVILEGE'S ORIGINS ........ 643 II. THE PRIVILEGE AT CIVIL AND COMMON LAW ....... 648 A. EUROPE, CANADA, AUSTRALIA, AND NEW ZEALAND ....... 648 B. THE UNITED STATES ...................................... 657 Ed. THE PRIVILEGE UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW ....... 661 CONCLU SION ................................................. 665 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the Israelites-When a man or woman wrongs another, breaking faith with the Lord, that person in- curs guilt and shall confess the sin that has been committed. The person shall make full restitution for the wrong, adding one fifth to it, and giving it to the one who was wronged!' If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. -
Inter-American Court of Human Rights
INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS CASE OF FERNÁNDEZ PRIETO AND TUMBEIRO V. ARGENTINA JUDGMENT OF SEPTEMBER 1, 2020 (Merits and reparations) In the case of Fernández Prieto and Tumbeiro v. Argentina, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (hereinafter “the Inter-American Court” or “the Court”), composed of the following judges:* Elizabeth Odio Benito, President L. Patricio Pazmiño Freire, Vice President Eduardo Vio Grossi, Judge Humberto Antonio Sierra Porto, Judge Eduardo Ferrer Mac-Gregor Poisot, Judge, and Ricardo Pérez Manrique, Judge, also present, Pablo Saavedra Alessandri, Secretary,** pursuant to Articles 62(3) and 63(1) of the American Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter “the American Convention” or “the Convention”) and Articles 31, 32, 42, 65 and 67 of the Rules of Procedure of the Court (hereinafter “the Rules of Procedure” or “ the Court’s Rules of Procedure”), delivers this judgment which is structured as follows: * Judge Eugenio Raúl Zaffaroni, an Argentine national, did not take part in the deliberation or signature of this judgment, in accordance with the provisions of Article 19(1) and (2) of the Court’s Rules of Procedure. ** The Deputy Secretary, Romina I. Sijniensky, did not participate in the processing of this case, or in the deliberation and signature of this judgment. TABLE OF CONTENTS I INTRODUCTION OF THE CASE AND PURPOSE OF THE DISPUTE 3 II PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE COURT 4 III JURISDICTION 6 IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF RESPONSIBILITY 6 A. Observations of the parties and of the Commission 6 B. Considerations of the Court 7 V EVIDENCE 9 A. Admissibility of the documentary evidence 9 B. -
Reasonable Suspicion and Mere Hunches
Vanderbilt Law Review Volume 59 Issue 2 Article 3 3-2006 Reasonable Suspicion and Mere Hunches Craig S. Lerner Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/vlr Part of the Criminal Law Commons Recommended Citation Craig S. Lerner, Reasonable Suspicion and Mere Hunches, 59 Vanderbilt Law Review 407 (2019) Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/vlr/vol59/iss2/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Vanderbilt Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Vanderbilt Law Review by an authorized editor of Scholarship@Vanderbilt Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Reasonable Suspicion and Mere Hunches Craig S. Lerner 59 Vand. L. Rev. 407 (2006) In Terry v. Ohio, Earl Warren held that police officers could temporarily detain a suspect, provided that they relied upon "specific, reasonable inferences," and not simply upon an "inchoate and unparticularized suspicion or 'hunch."' Since Terry, courts have strained to distinguish "reasonablesuspicion," which is said to arise from the cool analysis of objective and particularized facts, from "mere hunches," which are said to be subjective, generalized, unreasoned and therefore unreliable. Yet this dichotomy between facts and intuitions is built on sand. Emotions and intuitions are not obstacles to reason, but indispensable heuristic devices that allow people to process diffuse, complex information about their environment and make sense of the world. The legal rules governing police conduct are thus premised on a mistaken assumption about human cognition. This Article argues that the legal system can defer, to some extent, to police officers' intuitions without undermining meaningful protections against law enforcement overreaching. -
Confessions of Third Persons in Criminal Cases L
Cornell Law Review Volume 1 Article 3 Issue 2 January 1916 Confessions of Third Persons in Criminal Cases L. A. Wilder Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/clr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation L. A. Wilder, Confessions of Third Persons in Criminal Cases, 1 Cornell L. Rev. 82 (1916) Available at: http://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/clr/vol1/iss2/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Scholarship@Cornell Law: A Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Cornell Law Review by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Cornell Law: A Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CONFESSIONS OF THIRD PERSONS IN CRIMINAL CASES By L. A. WILDER1 Why should a confession of a specific crime, which would be admis- sible against the confessor if he were on trial, be inadmissible in favor of a third person charged with the offense, when the confessor is not available as a witness? No doubt the average layman would declare this state of the law glaringly inconsistent in itself, and wholly incompatible with the professed attitude of criminal courts toward accused persons. And while the general sense of justice in the abstract is not always a true test of justice in the concrete, the fact that it is shocked by the denial to A of the benefit of B's confession, however voluntary and reliable it may be, is sufficient to justify a comment upon the rule which so excludes the confession. Of course, it is understood that the confession (as distinguished from an admission) is admitted in evidence against the confessor by virtue of that exception to the hearsay rule, which lets in declara- tions against the interest of the declarant. -
Questions and Answers
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology Volume 34 | Issue 1 Article 8 1943 Questions and Answers Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/jclc Part of the Criminal Law Commons, Criminology Commons, and the Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons Recommended Citation Questions and Answers, 34 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 43 (1943-1944) This Correspondence is brought to you for free and open access by Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology by an authorized editor of Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. Questions and Answers David Geeting Monroe (Ed.) Long before the science of criminal investigation came into repute, enforcement officials had come to rely upon the confession as an important means of establishing guilt. The courts, for example, viewed confessions as one of the best and most substantial species of evidence. They assumed, and correctly, that no person in the full possession of his faculties would voluntarily' sacrifice life, liberty, or property by confessing to a crime he did not commit. And from the point of view of the police, the confession offered an invaluable means of disclosing guilt in light of the exceptional difficulties involved in fixing criminality. For crimes in large part are cloaked in secrecy and men conscious of criminal purpose seek to shelter their knavery from the observing eyes of others. Thus, through the ages, the confession has held a significant position in the field of crime repression. Nevertheless, use of confessional evidence has suffered an harrassed and checkered career and on innumerable occasions has obstructed the normal functioning of enforcement. -
Viral Buzz: Rumor and Its Disruptions in Pandemic Uncertainty
Special Feature “Against ‘Disaster’: Sociologica. V.15 N.1 (2021) Critical Reflections on the Concept” – peer-reviewed ISSN 1971-8853 https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1971-8853/11620 https://sociologica.unibo.it/ Viral Buzz: Rumor and Its Disruptions in Pandemic Uncertainty Gary Alan Fine* Department of Sociology, Northwestern University (United States) Submitted: October 18, 2020 – Revised version: February 19, 2021 Accepted: April 25, 2021 – Published: May 26, 2021 Abstract Building on theory and research on rumor dynamics, I examine how the search for and ac- quisition of information during a time of medical crisis relies on the politics of plausibility and the politics of credibility. In this, I examine how the content and the source of informa- tion affects the spread of uncertain knowledge during periods of disaster, recognizing the social dynamics of ignorance, a key issue for domains of knowledge of which the public has little ability to judge. The assertion of multiple truth claims about the current pandemic leads to challenges to previously taken-for-granted realities, but also potentially provides solutions. The dynamic may be different in conditions that require an immediate response and those that evolve over a longer period (fast and slow rumors). Using rumors about the COVID-19 pandemic, I address how epistemic disruption undercuts established norms (disruption-of) but also creates the possibility of desirable change through new negotia- tions, strengthening community (disruption-for). Keywords: Rumor; Knowledge; Disruption; Pandemic; COVID-19. Acknowledgements I thank Iddo Tavory for his comments on a draft of this paper. * [email protected] Copyright © 2021 Gary Alan Fine 43 The text in this work is licensed under the Creative Commons BY License. -
Cross Examining Police in False Confession Cases By: Attorney Deja Vishny*
The WISCONSIN Winter/Spring 2008 DEFENDER Volume 16, Issue 1 Cross Examining Police in False Confession Cases By: Attorney Deja Vishny* Many criminal defense lawyers are filled with dread at the idea of trying a confession case. We think the jury will never accept that people give false confessions. We worry that jurors and courts will always believe that because our clients gave a recorded confession, they must have committed the crime. Our experience in motion litigation has taught us that judges rarely, if ever, take the risk of suppressing the confession particularly when a crime is horrifying and highly publicized. Since the advent of mandatory recorded interrogation in juvenile and felony cases we have been lucky enough to be able to listen to the recording and pinpoint exactly how law enforcement agents are able to get our clients to confess. No longer is the process of getting a confession shrouded in mystery as the police enter into a closed off locked room with a suspect who is determined to maintain their innocence and emerge hours (sometimes days) later with a signed statement that proclaims “I did it”. However, defense lawyers listening to the tapes must be able to appreciate the significance of what is being said to cajole a confession. The lawyer handling a recorded interrogation case should always listen carefully to the recording of the entire interrogation as early as possible in the case. There have been many occasions of discrepancies between how a police officer will characterize the confession in testimony or a written report from how the statement was actually developed and what the tape shows the client’s actual words were. -
Animorphs the Suspicion
Animorphs The Suspicion Converted to E-Book by: Kamal Raniga Go forth, mighty warriors! Go forth into space! All the galaxy shall tremble before the Helmacrons. All will obey us. All will be our slaves. For only we are truly worthy to be Lords of the Universe. - Posthumous Exhortation of the Emperor. From the log of the Helmacron ship, Galaxy Blaster My name is Cassie. There are a lot of things about me that I can't tell you. My last name, for example. Or my address. I live in a paranoid world. I wish I didn't, but I do. And I have no choice but to conceal, to lie, to mislead. Even while I am desperately trying to tell the truth. You must know the truth. You must accept what is happening to Earth, to humanity. Because only by knowing can you fight the terrible evil that is upon us. I am referring, of course, to the Yeerks. Not to the Helmacrons. The Yeerks are a parasitic species from a far-distant planet. They originate in an aquatic environment. A Yeerk pool. At some point in their evolution they moved out of the safety and sensory deprivation of the pool and evolved an ability to enter the brains of a species called Gedds. For a long time, millennia, maybe, they were content to go that far. They did not know about space travel or technology at all. Like humans, they did not know of the existence of other species in the galaxy. At least, that's what our Andalite friend, Ax, tells us. -
Criminal Law-Evidence--Confession to Polygraph Operator Prior to Actual Test Held Admissible
University of Richmond Law Review Volume 9 | Issue 2 Article 13 1975 Criminal Law-Evidence--Confession to Polygraph Operator Prior to Actual Test Held Admissible Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.richmond.edu/lawreview Part of the Criminal Law Commons Recommended Citation Criminal Law-Evidence--Confession to Polygraph Operator Prior to Actual Test Held Admissible, 9 U. Rich. L. Rev. 377 (1975). Available at: http://scholarship.richmond.edu/lawreview/vol9/iss2/13 This Recent Decision is brought to you for free and open access by UR Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Richmond Law Review by an authorized administrator of UR Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Criminal Law-Evidence-CONFESSION TO POLYGRAPH OPERATOR PRIOR TO ACTUAL TEST HELD ADMISSIBLE-Jones v. Commonwealth, 214 Va. 723, 204 S.E.2d 247 (1974). Rules of evidence governing the admissibility of confessions have devel- oped gradually throughout the history of Anglo-American jurisprudence. Initially any confession was admissible regardless of the methods by which it was obtained.' The basic consideration was that the evidence admitted be truthful and reliable. 2 To protect the integrity of judicial proceedings, safeguards were later developed to insure the reliability of confessions by a determination of the voluntariness with which they were given.3 Courts have struggled with the problem of formulating a workable definition of voluntariness and have not yet developed a uniform substantive test.' Several procedures have been developed to provide for a determination of the voluntariness of a confession.' Virginia follows the "Wigmore" or 1. -
The Clergy-Penitent Privilege: an Overview
The Clergy-Penitent Privilege: An Overview The Clergy-Penitent Privilege: An Overview F. Robert Radel, II Andrew A. Labbe I. Introduction The clergy-penitent privilege is one of the oldest and most well-recognized privileges in the United States. While other once-recognized privileges have since withered or fallen from the vine, there remains considerable support for the clergy-penitent privilege.1 How- ever, many debate the rationale behind this privilege, and some question whether it will survive. Nowhere is this controversy clearer than in the interplay between the privilege and mandatory child abuse reporting laws, which have limited, and in some instances abrogated, the privilege. Jurisdictions throughout the country have struggled with striking a balance between what many consider one of the most sacred privileges at law and the safety of children. Some argue that the privilege must be protected at all costs, some that it should be done away with completely, and others attempt to find a middle ground. This debate was reignited last year following a decision from the Supreme Court of Louisiana, which revived a lawsuit contending that a priest should have reported accusations of sexual abuse disclosed to him during a confession.2 This decision is discussed in this article. This article discusses the history of the clergy-penitent privilege, considers the interplay between the privilege and mandatory child reporting laws, and addresses the arguments for limiting or abrogating the privilege. Finally, this article suggests a workable balance between protecting confidential religious communications and protecting children from abusers. 1 Even the attorney-client privilege, which is undoubtedly the most well established privilege, has become more limited in its application. -
Rape Shield Statute This Outline Has Several Objectives
APAAC 2014 Seminar: Rape Shield Statute This outline has several objectives: (1) providing the reader with an overview of the historical development of the rape-shield doctrine in Arizona; (2) summarizing how Arizona courts have resolved certain federal and state constitutional challenges to the preclusion of evidence pursuant to A.R.S. § 13-1421 and its common-law antecedents; (3) identifying the current state of the law; and (4) offering practical advice about how to minimize the likelihood of reversal when evidence is precluded pursuant to Arizona’s rape-shield statute for not falling within one of the five exceptions set forth in Section 13-1421(A)(1)-(5). Historical development. 1. Several years before promulgating the Arizona Rules of Evidence, the Arizona Supreme Court “affirmatively established a rape shield that prohibits admission of a victim’s sexual history as evidence of bad character or consent except in highly particularized situations.” State v. Lujan, 192 Ariz. 448, 452, ¶ 14, 967 P.2d 123, 127 (1998) (citing Pope v. Superior Court, 113 Ariz. 22, 28–29, 545 P.2d 946, 952– 53 (1976)). 2. The event that triggered the adoption of the rape-shield doctrine in our state was the necessity of repudiating the following rule of law, which had allowed rape defendants to offer evidence of the victim’s prior sexual activity in order to establish consent to the charged act of intercourse: “If consent be a defense to the charge, then certainly any evidence which reasonably tends to show consent is relevant and material, and common experience teaches us that the woman who has once departed from the paths of virtue is far more apt to consent to another lapse than is the one who has never stepped aside from that path.” State v. -
Priest-Penitent Privilege Statutes: Dual Protection in the Confessional
Catholic University Law Review Volume 43 Issue 4 Summer 1994 Article 4 1994 Priest-Penitent Privilege Statutes: Dual Protection in the Confessional Julie Ann Sippel Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.edu/lawreview Recommended Citation Julie A. Sippel, Priest-Penitent Privilege Statutes: Dual Protection in the Confessional, 43 Cath. U. L. Rev. 1127 (1994). Available at: https://scholarship.law.edu/lawreview/vol43/iss4/4 This Comments is brought to you for free and open access by CUA Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Catholic University Law Review by an authorized editor of CUA Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. COMMENT PRIEST-PENITENT PRIVILEGE STATUTES: DUAL PROTECTION IN THE CONFESSIONAL Society traditionally regards certain relationships as confidential and accords them special protection at law.1 One such protection is the testi- monial privilege, which prohibits one or both of the parties from testify- ing in court regarding certain communications between them.2 Historically, courts have extended this testimonial privilege to the priest- penitent relationship.' As few cases involving issues of priest-penitent privileged communications reach the appellate level, it is difficult to com- prehend fully the vast number of priest-penitent issues that actually arise.4 The significance of and need for the privilege is reflected by the fact that all fifty states and the District of Columbia have enacted statutes 5 recognizing the privilege. 1. See generally Developments in the Law-PrivilegedCommunications, 98 HARV. L. REV. 1450 (1985) (explaining the history and development of legal relationships pertaining to certain types of relationships under American law).