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- Title
FACEBOOK, TWITTER, AND THE UNCERTAIN FUTURE OF PRESENT SENSE IMPRESSIONS.
- Authors
Bellin, Jeffrey
- Abstract
The intricate legal framework governing the admission of out-of-court statements in American trials is premised on increasingly outdated communi- cation norms. Nowhere is this more apparent than with the hearsay exception for "present sense impressions." Changing communication practices typified by interactions on social media websites like Facebook and Twitter herald the arrival of a previously uncontemplated-and uniquely unreliable-breed of present sense impressions. This Article contends that the indiscriminate admission of these electronic present sense impressions (e-PSIs) is both normatively undesirable and inconsistent with the traditional rationale for the present sense impression exception. It proposes a reform to the exception that would exclude unreliable e-PSIs while simultaneously realigning the modem rule with its historical rationale. In so doing, this Article sounds an early warning to courts and legislators regarding similar challenges on the horizon, as modem communication norms continue to evolve beyond the contemplation of the drafters of the hearsay rules.
- Subjects
UNITED States; PRESENT sense impressions (Evidence); HEARSAY exceptions; HEARSAY evidence; FACEBOOK (Web resource); LAW reform; TWITTER (Web resource)
- Publication
University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 2012, Vol 160, Issue 2, p331
- ISSN
0041-9907
- Publication type
Article