Abstract
As the newest pillar of communication in today’s society, social media is revolutionizing how the world does business, discovers and shares news, and instantly engages with friends and family. Not surprisingly, because social media factors into the majority of cases in some respect, this exploding medium significantly affects government investigations and criminal litigation. Social media evidence includes, among other things, photographs, status updates, a person’s location at a certain time, and direct communications to or from a defendant’s social media account. This Article will examine the importance of social media in government investigations and criminal litigation, including access to and use of social media evidence, constitutional issues that social media evidence raises, the authentication and admissibility of such evidence, in addition to the impact of social media on jurors.
Recommended Citation
Justin P. Murphy & Adrian Fontecilla,
Social Media Evidence in Government Investigations and Criminal Proceedings: A Frontier of New Legal Issues,
19
Rich. J.L. & Tech
11
(2013).
Available at:
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/jolt/vol19/iss3/4