Witness Testimony and Credibility: Legal Standards and Judicial Approach

Abstract

This research paper will look at the law and judicial practice in determining the value of witness evidence and credibility in contemporary courts. It explores the characteristics of human perception, memory, and biases in the review of evidence. The research takes doctrinal analysis as approach and focuses on such principles as consistency, corroboration and cross examination. The study shows that the courts appear to be more and more adopting a holistic approach, combining testimonies, documents and scientific evidences so that accurate and fair adjudication is possible. Witness testimony is one of the most basic of all types of evidence in common law and civil law systems. Oral evidence will continue to be central to courts in reconstructing evidence, even if forensic science and digital evidence has advanced. However, the reliability of witnesses is often doubted and it is complex and sensitive for the judge to evaluate the information he has received. The law of witness testimony, the evaluation of credibility in court, and some emerging problems that courts face in assessing credibility in today's litigation will be explored.