Book contents
- Critical Evidence
- Critical Evidence
- Copyright page
- Contents
- About the Editors
- Contributors
- Foreword: An Outsider’s Tribute
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part IIntroduction to the Field and Its Actors
- Part IIThe Rules
- Part IIIExpanding Evidence
- Section 1Decarceration and Abolition
- Bending Evidence Rules Towards Decarceration
- Reimagining Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. as a Non-Reformist Reform
- Section 2And Beyond
- The Incoherence of Evidence Law
- The Anti-Transgender Medical Expert Industry
- Race Is Evidence/Evidence Is Race
- Suggested Readings
Bending Evidence Rules Towards Decarceration
from Part III - Expanding Evidence
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 October 2026
Book contents
- Critical Evidence
- Critical Evidence
- Copyright page
- Contents
- About the Editors
- Contributors
- Foreword: An Outsider’s Tribute
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part IIntroduction to the Field and Its Actors
- Part IIThe Rules
- Part IIIExpanding Evidence
- Section 1Decarceration and Abolition
- Bending Evidence Rules Towards Decarceration
- Reimagining Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. as a Non-Reformist Reform
- Section 2And Beyond
- The Incoherence of Evidence Law
- The Anti-Transgender Medical Expert Industry
- Race Is Evidence/Evidence Is Race
- Suggested Readings
Summary
Evidence rules purport to be transubstantive. Therefore, they should apply equally and predictably to all cases, both civil and criminal, irrespective of the nature of the charge or claim, the identity of the parties, or the severity of the harm the defendant has allegedly caused. Yet, those who interact with how evidence rules are actually applied – whether in the courtroom or the academy – know this to be false. Sometimes this uneven or inconsistent application results from a judge’s mistake about the evidence rules. But other times, judges misapply the rules to admit evidence that the rules technically preclude, but that the judge determines is “in some way essential to the case.” In other words, they bend the evidence rules.
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- Critical Evidence , pp. 393 - 402Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
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