Hearsay, Hearsay Exceptions, and Hearsay Difficulties
Jacob Karko
Arizona State University
CRJ 321
Professor Andrew Clemency
January 28th, 2023
Hearsay, Hearsay Exceptions, and Hearsay Difficulties
The purpose of this paper is to explore four topics revolving around hearsay in the court room. The first topic is defining hearsay, what can be considered hearsay and its differences with the standard definition. The second topic will cover what is not hearsay despite being close in relation to hearsay. The third topic is the exceptions to hearsay under rules 8/01 through 807. The last topic is to address how the supreme court case of Crawford V. Washington affected these exceptions. The rules
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According to Cornell Law, there are currently twenty-four exceptions to hearsay in rule 803. This section will not cover all twenty-four however, some of the more confusing examples will be covered, while some of the more expected exceptions will be grouped together. Unsurprisingly, many records such as family, medical, religious, statistical and activity records all fall under the exception to the rule against hearsay (Cornell, 2023). The notion of a record is what makes the the statements in question an exception if the record is a normal and accepted activity or done under one's legal duties. Inversely, the absence of record is also an exception to hearsay rules. The absence of records is a little more complicated than the presence of record. For the absence of records to be admissible, records must be regularly kept within normal operation or performance of duties (Cornell, 2023). Along with records, certificates for ceremonies that contain applicable fact are also an exception to hearsay long as the authorizing party belongs to a religious organization or by someone operating in the interest of the law. Reputation can also fall under exemptions to hearsay (Cornell, 2023). Reputation amongst family history can be exempt from hearsay, so long as the statements are related to birth, adoption, legitimacy, ancestry, marriage, divorce, death, relationship or other facts pertaining to personal or family history (Cornell, 2023). Similarly. Reputation of character also falls under exemption if the reputation is accepted within their community (Cornell, 2023). Regarding medical and mental conditions there are two exceptions. Statements pertaining to medical diagnoses so long as the statement involves the medical conditions diagnosis, treatment and or history of symptoms. Similarly mental, emotional and physical condition statements are also exempt