Apology Excepted: Incorporating a Feminist Analysis into Evidence Policy Where You Would Least Expect It
Southwestern University Law Review, Vol. 28, p. 221, 1999
61 Pages Posted: 12 Feb 2010 Last revised: 10 Jul 2013
Date Written: 1999
Abstract
In this Article, I offer a feminist critique to challenge the Federal Rules’ so-called objectivity and neutrality. In Part II, I apply a feminist analysis to argue that the evidence rules are not neutral or objective, nor could they ever be. Even where the rules of evidence do not claim to be relying on or transmitting values, they nevertheless do so. The Rules purport to elevate logic over emotion. I suggest that the “logic” embedded in evidence rules is laden with cultural biases and that emotion, if properly understood, has a legitimate role to play in crafting evidence policy. In addition, as a practical matter, the rules may discriminate against the cognitive and linguistic styles of women and other subordinate groups.
Keywords: Evidence Rule 407, remedial repair, compromise, Rule 408, apology
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