Confronting Crawford v. Washington in the Lower Courts

Abstract:     
Crawford v. Washington is arguably the most significant criminal procedure decision of the last decade. Critics have argued that the Crawford line is a doctrinal muddle that has led to arbitrary and unpredictable results in the lower courts. I respond to this critique with empirical evidence by presenting results from the first statistical analysis of post-Crawford Confrontation Clause cases. The results show that lower courts have emphasized two factors — the presence of a state actor and the presence of an injured party — to evaluate whether a statement is testimonial under Crawford. I then argue that these results are not ambiguous or contradictory but consistent with Crawford’s reasoning and the underlying purposes of the Confrontation Clause.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 55

Keywords: confrontation clause, Crawford v. Washington, empirical, content analysis, criminal procedure, constituitonal law, criminal law, sixth amendment, regression analysis

JEL Classification: K14, K19, K42

Accepted Paper Series