Book Details
Orange Code:91251
Paperback:256 pages
Publications:
Categories:
Sections:
1. Thinking about Error in the Law2. The Unraveling of Reasonable Doubt3. Fixing the Standard of Proof4. Innocence, the Burden of Proof, and the Puzzle of Affirmative Defenses5. Evaluating Evidence and Procedures6. Silent Defendants, Silent Witnesses, and Lobotomized Jurors7. Confessions, Poison Fruit, and Other Exclusions8. Double Jeopardy and False Acquittals: Letting Felons and Judges off the Hook?9. Dubious Motives for Flawed Rules: The Clash between Values
Description:
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This book treats problems in the epistemology of the law. Beginning with the premise that the principal function of a criminal trial is to find out the truth about a crime, Larry Laudan examines the rules of evidence and procedure that would be appropriate if the discovery of the truth were, as higher courts routinely claim, the overriding aim of the criminal justice system. Laudan mounts a systematic critique of existing rules and procedures that are obstacles to that quest. He also examines issues of error distribution by offering the first integrated analysis of the various mechanisms-the standard of proof, the benefit of the doubt, the presumption of innocence and the burden of proof-for implementing society's view about the relative importance of the errors that can occur in a trial.
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