Description
Book SynopsisBeginning with the premise that the principal function of a criminal trial is to find out the truth, 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.
Trade Review'Laudan has written an estimable book, one that deserves a wide audience. His arguments are of consistently high calibre and his conclusions are provocative.' Criminal Law and Philosophy
Table of Contents1. Thinking about error in the law; 2. The unraveling of reasonable doubt; 3. Fixing the standard of proof; 4. Innocence, the burden of proof, and the puzzle of affirmative defenses; 5. Evaluating evidence and procedures; 6. Silent defendants, silent witnesses, and lobotomized jurors; 7. Confessions, poison fruit, and other exclusions; 8. Double jeopardy and false acquittals: letting felons and judges off the hook?; 9. Dubious motives for flawed rules: the clash between values.
