NCJ Number
149474
Date Published
1994
Length
336 pages
Annotation
Directed to police and private security personnel, criminal justice practitioners, students, and teachers, this loose-leaf manual presents and explains the rules, cases, laws, and constitutional provisions that form the basis of the rules of evidence that significantly affect police procedures in criminal cases.
Abstract
The preface emphasizes that evidence must be legally obtained, legally sufficient, logically and legally relevant, and competent. Therefore, investigators must eliminate the possibility of tainted evidence or lack of evidence by responding to the crime scene as quickly as possible; protecting the scene and evidence; thoroughly examining the crime scene for physical evidence; and identifying, collecting, preserving, and maintaining proper custody of evidence. Individual chapters focus on the law of evidence and the adversary system, the forms of evidence, preservation of evidence, exploring documentary evidence and testimonial evidence from witnesses, eyewitness identification, proof in criminal cases, alternatives to formal proof, and privileges such as the privilege against self-incrimination and attorney-client privilege. Text of the Federal Rules of Evidence, table of cases, and index