probatory

According to Federal Rules of Evidence (FRE) Rule 404, prior crimes categorically cannot be used to show character in order to prove "action in conformity therewith" or to show a propensity to illegal acts (unless defendant triggers a discussion of character), and they must also pass the Rule 403 balancing test, which rules out such evidence if the judge concludes that it is substantially more unfairly prejudicial than probatory. If a defendant takes the stand, prior convictions can be used as evidence that he is a liar under Rule 609--subject to the exceptions spelled out in Rule 404(b)--but generally not as evidence that he committed the crime with which he is charger.

Others are founded, not on presumed juror psychology, but on dubious epistemic hypotheses about the probatory strength of prior crimes evidence.

Does this fact exhibit that jurors attribute unwarrantedly potent probatory significance to prior crimes evidence?

For the more formal juici os ordinarios, the scribe opened a new criminal file by transcribing the order dictated by the judge (auto cabeza del proceso) that initiated the sumaria, the first or probatory phase of the case.

As noted in the legal codes, a just and proper sentence had to be based on evidence, the circumstances of the crime, and the background of th e accused, information the escribano collected in the probatory phase of the case.