Character evidence
Character evidence is a term used in the law of evidence to describe any testimony or document submitted for the purpose of proving that a person acted in a particular way on a particular occasion based on the character or disposition of that person. In the United States, Federal Rule of Evidence 404 maps out its permissible and prohibited uses in trials. Three factors typically determine the admissibility of character evidence:
Type of proceeding[edit]
Civil trial[edit]
In the majority of U.S. jurisdictions, character evidence is inadmissible in civil suits when being used as circumstantial evidence to prove that a person acted in conformity with their character; it is considered to be an unfair basis from which to attempt to prove that an individual behaved in a particular way on a particular occasion.[2] Another way of looking at this is that character evidence is only admissible in a majority of jurisdictions in a civil trial if character is actually a substantive issue in the case (negligent hiring; negligent entrustment, child custody cases, loss of consortium cases), or to impeach a witness.
A minority of U.S. jurisdictions, however, permit defendants in assault and battery and fraudulent misconduct civil cases to introduce character evidence as circumstantial evidence to prove that a person acted in conformity with their character.[3]
Character witness[edit]
Commentators have noted that the ability of defendants to call character witnesses can give an advantage to more affluent defendants. Affluent defendants can call as character witnesses celebrities, athletes, and prominent members of the community. In contrast, it would be neither advisable nor beneficial to a defendant to call to the stand a disreputable fellow inmate as a character witness.
Distinguished from habit evidence[edit]
Character evidence must be distinguished from habit evidence, which is generally admissible, and which is evidence submitted for the purpose of proving that an individual acted in a particular way on a particular occasion in question based on that person's tendency to reflexively respond to a particular situation in a particular way.