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PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   9420 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of May 4, 2026

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Are there many laws generally about the acceptable set of arguments you can put in front of a jury? "Ban the X Defense" IMO is usually trying to appeal to some sense that this was an affirmative defense (see self-defense law), not "you can't ask the jury to consider this". The only one I can think of offhand is that directly appealing to jury nullification is heavily frowned upon.

Are there many laws generally about the acceptable set of arguments you can put in front of a jury?

Some countries bar the admissibility of evidence that says "yes, I'm going to sleep with this guy and then cry rape, it'll be funny" after a famous case where that was indeed an affirmative defense.

It's very crooked.

Canada did that after a high-profile sexual assault case imploded during trial thanks to the defense catching the accusers lying and colluding behind the scenes to coordinate their testimony. The solution, to prevent such an embarrassment going forward, was to hold mandatory pre-trial hearings where the defense is forced to lay all their cards on the table ahead of time if they want records admitted as evidence, making it even easier for accusers to tailor their testimony.

Laws specifically are rare and generally tied to sex crimes. Court rules are more common, though, and will regularly block entire types of evidence, or even specific framings of arguments.

Also rape shield laws, which prevent a man from arguing a certain act was consensual using evidence that she had a history of consenting to such acts.

Famously a major plot point of the film Cape Fear:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Fear_(1991_film)

Where's @ymeskhout when you need him.

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