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
- Section 1Relevance and Prejudice
- Relevance, Reconsidered
- The Relevance and Prejudice of Poverty Evidence
- Toward a Critical Race Theory of Evidence
- Section 2Character Evidence
- Character (Evidence) Assassination
- Disability as a Character Chameleon
- Different Spanks for Different Ranks
- Evidence Without Rules
- Judging Demeanor
- Section 3Credibility
- Law’s Credibility Problem
- Teaching Impeachment
- Section 4Sex Trials
- Real Women, Real Rape
- Unchaste and Incredible
- Feminist Take(s) on Other (Sexual) Bad Acts
- Section 5Hearsay and Confrontation
- The Neglected Origins of the Hearsay Rule in American Slavery
- Examining the American Hearsay Prohibition’s Roots in Slavery
- Hearsay and Confrontation from a Feminist Gaze
- Facially Neutral, Quietly Skewed
- Section 6Experts
- Who Says You’re Disabled? The Role of Medical Evidence in the ADA Definition of Disability
- Beyond the Binary
- Presumed Expertise
- Party-Blind Review
- Unequal Burdens of Proof
- Section 7Privileges
- Underprivileged
- Parent-Child Privilege as Resistance
- Part IIIExpanding Evidence
- Suggested Readings
Real Women, Real Rape
from Part II - The Rules
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
- Section 1Relevance and Prejudice
- Relevance, Reconsidered
- The Relevance and Prejudice of Poverty Evidence
- Toward a Critical Race Theory of Evidence
- Section 2Character Evidence
- Character (Evidence) Assassination
- Disability as a Character Chameleon
- Different Spanks for Different Ranks
- Evidence Without Rules
- Judging Demeanor
- Section 3Credibility
- Law’s Credibility Problem
- Teaching Impeachment
- Section 4Sex Trials
- Real Women, Real Rape
- Unchaste and Incredible
- Feminist Take(s) on Other (Sexual) Bad Acts
- Section 5Hearsay and Confrontation
- The Neglected Origins of the Hearsay Rule in American Slavery
- Examining the American Hearsay Prohibition’s Roots in Slavery
- Hearsay and Confrontation from a Feminist Gaze
- Facially Neutral, Quietly Skewed
- Section 6Experts
- Who Says You’re Disabled? The Role of Medical Evidence in the ADA Definition of Disability
- Beyond the Binary
- Presumed Expertise
- Party-Blind Review
- Unequal Burdens of Proof
- Section 7Privileges
- Underprivileged
- Parent-Child Privilege as Resistance
- Part IIIExpanding Evidence
- Suggested Readings
Summary
There are several reasons to find rape shield laws troubling. From the point of view of many defense attorneys and civil libertarians, rape shield laws, by curtailing a defendant’s ability to offer evidence of a victim’s prior sexual conduct, unfairly circumscribe a defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses and present relevant evidence in his defense. To make matters worse, many jurisdictions have now coupled rape shield laws with what amounts to rape sword laws – laws that specifically allow the prosecution to introduce evidence of a defendant’s sexual history as proof of his character or propensity. Defense attorneys and civil libertarians would argue that these rules not only tip the scales against innocence. They also frustrate the truth-finding process, undermine the notion of innocent until proven guilty, and result in miscarriages of justice.
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- Critical Evidence , pp. 209 - 217Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
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