The Truth About Character Evidence
I found a great website for information on jury research. Kathy Kellerman is a communications consultant who regularly posts answers to questions about how jurors make decisions. She has an informative post about the effectiveness of evidence of a defendant's good character in a criminal trial. I think most people (including attorneys) will be surprised by what the research concludes about this type of evidence.
Question:
Does character evidence help or hurt defendants in criminal trials?
Answer:
Recent research by Hunt and Budesheim (2004) studied the effects of positive character evidence when offered alone, and when followed by a prosecutor cross-examining about specific bad acts.
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