Exculpatory evidence is the evidence favorable to the defendant in a criminal trial, which clears or tends to clear the defendant of guilt. It is the opposite of inculpatory evidence, which tends to prove guilt.
In many countries such as the United States, police or prosecutor are not required to disclose to the defendant any exculpatory evidence they possess before the defendant makes a plea (guilty or not guilty). Per the Brady v. Maryland decision, prosecutors have a duty to disclose exculpatory evidence even if not requested. Though it is true that the prosecution is not required to search for exculpatory evidence and must only disclose the evidence it has in its possession, custody or control, the prosecution's duty to disclose includes all information known to any member of its team, e.g., police, investigators, crime lab, etc.
In Brady v. Maryland, the U.S. Supreme Court held that such a requirement follows from constitutional due process and is consistent with the prosecutor's duty to seek justice.
Read more about Exculpatory Evidence: Example
Famous quotes containing the word evidence:
“No doubt Jews are most obnoxious creatures. Any competent historian or psychoanalyst can bring a mass of incontrovertible evidence to prove that it would have been better for the world if the Jews had never existed. But I, as an Irishman, can, with patriotic relish, demonstrate the same of the English. Also of the Irish.... We all live in glass houses. Is it wise to throw stones at the Jews? Is it wise to throw stones at all?”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)