The Liar’s Mark: Character and Forfeiture in Federal Rule of Evidence 609(a)(2)

Rule 609(a)(2) of the Federal Rules of Evidence is an outlier. The Rule mandates admission of impeaching evidence of a witness’s past convictions for crimes of dishonesty. It is the only place in the Rules where judges are denied their usual discretion to exclude evidence on the grounds that its admission would be more prejudicial than probative. This Note analyzes three assumptions underlying this unusual Rule: (1) that there is a coherently definable category of crimes of dishonesty, (2) that convictions for crimes of dishonesty are uniquely probative of a person’s character, and (3) that an assessment of moral character based on past convictions will be suitably predictive of a person’s reliability as a witness. These assumptions are false and so do not justify the mandatory admission of convictions under the Rule. The final Part of this Note argues that Rule 609(a)(2) is better understood as operating on an implicit principle of forfeiture. Recognizing this and modifying the structure of the Rule accordingly cures some of its current defects. But these revisions still leave something deeply concerning about Rule 609(a)(2). The logic of forfeiture substitutes a normative judgment about a particular class of people in place of an evidentiary judgment about the probative value of a certain kind of information. This Note concludes that this substitution is unprincipled and unjust, and that therefore Rule 609(a)(2) should be eliminated.

Mahathir’s Leadership Post-general Election 14: Perspectives of the Malay Community in West Malaysia

New history is created in Malaysia. After over six decades of Federal rule, the Barisan Nasional (BN) government has been replaced by a coalition of opposition parties, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) in the most recent general election. PH also managed to form several state governments traditionally held by BN in Peninsular Malaysia. This study aims to seek the perception of the Malays in West Malaysia in accepting the return of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad into power. It focuses on the so-called political comeback of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad – the first leader to be appointed Prime Minister twice considering this rarely happens in Malaysia. This study was conducted in West Malaysia involving eighty-eight respondents using the 5-point Likert-scale survey questionnaire. Respondents were given an option to answer the questionnaire in Bahasa Malaysia or English. The general result showed that perception towards political issues in Malaysia, especially with regard to Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad’s comeback drew mixed reactions. On the same note, it showed that people could have lost their hopes and direction of Malaysian politics.