Also known as: probative values · probative
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A measure of the degree to which evidence tends to make a fact of consequence in the proceeding more or less probable than it would be without the evidence. Courts weigh this measure against risks such as unfair prejudice when deciding admissibility under rules that require balancing.
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Pierce Patterson testified as a defense witness in a fraud trial. On cross-examination the prosecutor asked whether Patterson had once falsified an expense report at a prior job. The court permitted the question after determining that the inquiry bore on Patterson's character for truthfulness and that the probative value justified allowing it despite the absence of a conviction.
Portia Price faced charges of arson. The government offered evidence that she had previously set a controlled fire in a vacant building to collect insurance. The court admitted the evidence after finding sufficient proof that Price committed the prior act and that its probative value on the issue of intent was not substantially outweighed by unfair prejudice.
Pedro Pacheco took the stand in his own defense on a drug-trafficking charge. The prosecution sought to introduce his five-year-old conviction for theft. The court admitted the conviction after concluding that its probative value on credibility outweighed its prejudicial effect to Pacheco as the defendant.
Priscilla Parks was prosecuted for being a felon in possession of a firearm. She offered to stipulate that she had a prior felony conviction. The government nevertheless sought to introduce the full judgment showing the conviction was for armed robbery. The court excluded the details after finding that the added probative value was substantially outweighed by the risk of unfair prejudice.
Penelope Price's retained economist relied on internal company memos that were themselves hearsay. The memos contained raw sales figures the expert used to calculate lost profits. The court permitted disclosure of the memos to the jury after determining that their probative value in helping the jury evaluate the expert's opinion substantially outweighed any prejudicial effect.
Pablo Perez offered photographs of the accident scene taken months later after the roadway had been repaved. The defendant objected that the changed conditions rendered the photos misleading. The court excluded the photographs after finding that any remaining probative value was substantially outweighed by the danger of misleading the jury.
Relevance requires only that evidence have any tendency to make a fact of consequence more or less probable. Probative value measures the strength of that tendency and how central the fact is to the case, which courts then balance against countervailing dangers under Rule 403.
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A court may exclude relevant evidence under Rule 403 only when the probative value is substantially outweighed by dangers such as unfair prejudice, confusion of issues, or needless delay. The rule strongly favors admission and requires the dangers to substantially outweigh the value.
…Supp. 943, 949 (ED Pa. 1976) (notes of conversation with witness "are so much a product of the lawyer's thinking and so little probative of the witness's actual words that they are absolutely protected from disclosure"). Those courts declining to adopt an absolute rule have nonetheless recognized that such material is…
…fact. Similarly, the "presumption" (of "malice") arising from the fact of an intentional killing is not a designation of any probative relationship between the fact of "intention" relating to the killing and any further facts . . . .'" State v. Lafferty , 309 A. 2d 647, 664 (1973) (emphasis in original). See id. , at…
…way dependent on the origin of the samples from which the profiles were derived. Of course, Lambatos’ opinion would have lacked probative value if the prosecution had not introduced other evidence to establish the provenance of the profiles, but that has nothing to do with the truth of her testimony. The dissent is similarly…
…us that the interest of society in deterring unlawful police conduct and the public interest in having juries receive all probative evidence of a crime are properly balanced by putting the police in the same, not a worse , position that they would have been in if no police error or misconduct had occurred.[^maj-4] See…
…for summary judgment, the plaintiff could not rest on his allegations of a conspiracy to get to a jury without "any significant probative evidence tending to support the complaint." Id. , at 290, 88 S.Ct., at 1593. Again, in Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co. , 398 U.S. 144, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970), the Court…
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No. Under Rule 609(a)(1)(B) a prior conviction is admissible against a defendant-witness only if the court determines that its probative value outweighs its prejudicial effect to the defendant. The balancing is stricter than the general Rule 403 test.
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Under Rule 703 an expert may disclose inadmissible facts or data to the jury only if their probative value in helping the jury evaluate the opinion substantially outweighs their prejudicial effect. The court performs this balancing before permitting disclosure.
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Under Rule 608(b) extrinsic evidence of specific instances is generally inadmissible, but the court may allow inquiry on cross-examination if the instances are probative of the witness's character for truthfulness or untruthfulness.
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