Abstract
The intricate legal framework governing the admission of out-of-court statements in American trials is premised on increasingly outdated communication norms.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 modern 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 modern communication norms continue to evolve beyond the contemplation of the drafters of the hearsay rules.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-2012
Publication Information
160 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 331-375 (2012)
Repository Citation
Bellin, Jeffrey, "Facebook, Twitter, and the Uncertain Future of Present Sense Impressions" (2012). Faculty Publications. 1249.
https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/facpubs/1249