The time for change has come. Felony impeachment should be limited, as it is in Pennsylvania state courts, to only crimes related to untruthfulness. A witness convicted of lying under oath or making a false statement, can be attacked at trial as untruthful, but a witness convicted of robbing a bank or selling drugs, for example, should not be attacked as untruthful solely based on a prior felony conviction.<\/p>\n
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Since Congress passed the Second Chance Act in 2008, our society has taken enormous strides to help ex-offenders, now known as \u201creturning citizens,\u201d successfully reenter our communities. Those men and women \u2014 an astounding 650,000 are released every year \u2014 have done their time and need help to ensure they can get a fresh start after years or decades in prison.\u00a0Research, led by LaSalle University Professor Caitlin Taylor, confirms the benefits of reentry programs, which help returning citizens resume lives as law-abiding and productive members of the community.<\/p>\n
The felony impeachment rule is rooted in an ancient legal notion that convicted felons could never testify in court. That prohibition disappeared more than a century ago. Yet legendary jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes declared that returning citizens remain burdened with an evil character from which a jury can conclude that they will lie under oath. Like Holmes\u2019 ruling authorizing forced sterilization in a 1927 Supreme Court decision, the felony impeachment rule is outdated, unjustified, and flawed.<\/p>\n
Our legal system must embrace efforts to restore justice by helping victims, offenders, their families, and the community move forward and heal. I realize this is not a simple task, especially when the underlying crimes are brutal or deadly, leaving lifelong damage. Yet branding all returning citizens as liars does little more than perpetuate an endless cycle of retribution. It does nothing to heal the wounds that scar so many of those impacted by crime, and the research establishes that it fails to help a jury find the truth. As a society, we can do better.<\/p>\n
Let us begin our quest to restore justice by burying Holmes\u2019 notion of humanity and evil. Federal law should restrict felony impeachment only to crimes related to untruthfulness. This reform will help the law shed dehumanizing labels that renew punishment already imposed for past offenses. Men and women who are given a fresh start after prison should not be stigmatized as liars based on a prior felony.<\/p>\n
After all, which one of us has never been given a second chance?<\/p>\n
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Timothy R. Rice is a U.S. magistrate judge and former federal prosecutor who teaches evidence at Temple University\u2019s Beasley School of Law.\u00a0The views expressed, derived from a Temple Law Review article<\/a>, are his own.\u00a0 This shortened version of his analysis was originally published July 6, 2017 at\u00a0\\http:\/\/www.philly.com\/philly\/opinion\/commentary\/courts-must-stop-stigmatizing-all-felons-as-liars-20170706.html<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As Washington continues to grapple with the nuances of lying, some\u00a0citizens suffer from a stigmatizing federal law that treats them as if they were convicted liars without any logical or scientific justification. Consider this scenario: An eyewitness foils a potential terrorist act, saving thousands of lives and earning praise from the community for bravery. The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,6,7,11],"tags":[],"coauthors":[254],"class_list":["post-2029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advocacy","category-advocacy-and-evidence-blog","category-criminal-law","category-evidence","category-trial-advocacy"],"yoast_head":"\n