Evidence

Hard cases, it is said, make bad law. Criminal prosecutions for child molestation and abuse are likely the hardest cases of all. Apart from their horrific facts, they present tremendous evidentiary challenges to prosecutors, primarily because of the victims' youth. Consequently, Georgia's appellate courts have repeatedly fashioned new evidentiary rules to assist prosecutors in such cases.

Whether these hard cases make bad law no doubt depends on one's perspective. Without question, however, appeals involving child molestation and abuse continue to make new law, and the current survey period was no exception.