Critical Evidence

Critical Evidence taps into a growing body of scholarship that demonstrates evidence law is fundamentally about power, setting the boundaries of whose voices will be heard and what types of knowledge will be cognizable in courts of law in the United States. The book brings together leading and emerging Critical Evidence scholars to examine the major rules that govern admissibility in court, from relevancy to hearsay to privileges. These scholars show that many such rules are not neutral as constructed or applied, but, in fact, privilege insiders at the expense of outsiders, namely poor people, women, people of color, disabled people, and LGBTQ+ people. Through a close reading of rules and doctrine, Critical Evidence shows that evidence law must and should change in order to serve as a system that promotes truth, justice and fairness for all in the American legal system.

Bennett Capers is the Stanley D. & Nikki Waxberg Professor of Law at Fordham Law School, and has published widely. His co-edited books include Critical Race Judgments: Rewritten US Court Opinions on Race and Law (2022) and Feminist Judgments: Criminal Law (2022). He has been a visiting professor at Yale Law School, Columbia Law School, Boston University School of Law, and University of Texas Law School.

Jasmine E. Harris is a Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. Her publications appear in prominent law reviews, interdisciplinary journals, and edited book volumes. Harris is a co-editor of McCormick on Evidence, one of the leading evidence treatises. A frequent contributor to national public discourse, Harris's commentary appears in media outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Bloomberg, National Public Radio, and TIME Magazine.

Julia Simon-Kerr is the Evangeline Starr Professor of Law at University of Connecticut School of Law. Her scholarship has been cited by numerous Federal Courts of Appeals and State Supreme Courts and has been discussed in media outlets such as NPR and The Atlantic. She serves as the Academic Advisor to the Connecticut Code of Evidence Committee and is a co-founder of the Prior Impeachment Reform Coalition. She has been a visiting professor at Yale Law School.