How can a witness's testimony endanger the efforts of the prosecution?

What will be an ideal response?


One mistake often made during cross-examination is to try to determine the motive behind a question asked by the defense attorney. In doing so, the witness may gear the answer to what he or she believes is the motive and thus fail to give a direct and concise answer to the question. The witness may even include material that is not pertinent or give an entirely irrelevant answer as a result of thinking about an alleged motive rather than the question asked. Anytime a witness tries to outthink the attorney instead of adhering to the truth with short, concise answers, the witness can end up in serious trouble and cause difficult problems for the prosecution.

Criminal Justice

You might also like to view...

Recent research has shown that some victims of human trafficking were used for commercial sex acts

a. True b. False Indicate whether the statement is true or false

Criminal Justice

Officers who use more force are more likely to work certain shifts—evenings and nights—and are usually female

Indicate whether the statement is true or false

Criminal Justice

Which of the following represents a common theme with both social disorganization theories and routine activities theory?

a. Neither one proposes any offender rehabilitation ideas b. Neither one has attracted much research interest c. Both suffer from ethnocentric bias and a lack of objectivity d. Both claim to have found the definitive answer to what causes crime

Criminal Justice

Marijuana use is significantly more prevalent among teen drivers than

a. oxycontin. b. alcohol. c. methamphetamine. d. cocaine.

Criminal Justice