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Criminal Law & Justice vocabulary · Evidence & Forensics

Evidence

Meaning in criminal law & justice, with examples

/ˈevɪdəns/nounCore term

In criminal law & justice, evidence means: Information, objects, documents or testimony that a court can use to decide whether something is true, for example whether the defendant committed the crime.

In Turkish: delil, kanıt, ispat aracı

How it is used

Uncountable: 'evidence', 'a piece of evidence', 'new evidence'. Police 'gather' or 'collect' evidence, prosecutors 'present' it and judges decide whether it is 'admissible'. In British usage, witnesses 'give evidence' in court.

Example sentences

  1. There was not enough evidence to charge him.

  2. The knife was the key piece of evidence in the case.

  3. The officer gave evidence on the second day of the trial.

Common collocations

  • gather evidence
  • piece of evidence
  • lack of evidence
  • give evidence
  • forensic evidence
  • witnessA person who saw or heard something connected with a crime, or who gives information about it in court.
  • forensicUsing scientific methods to investigate crimes and produce evidence for courts, such as analysing blood, fibres or digital data.
  • DNA evidenceEvidence based on the genetic material in body cells, such as hair, skin or saliva, which can link a person to a place or object with a high degree of certainty.
  • burden of proofThe duty to prove that a claim is true; in criminal cases it lies on the prosecution, not on the defendant.
  • alibiEvidence or a claim that a person was somewhere else when the crime happened, so they could not have committed it.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Evidence & Forensics

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not legal advice.