Your Right to Confront Witnesses in Court

When facing criminal charges, you have the right to confront the witnesses testifying against you. The Sixth Amendment reads: “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right … to be confronted with the witnesses against him”. In practice, this means that tape recordings and written statements are no substitute for questioning witnesses in court. The pivotal case of Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004), illustrates why the Confrontation Clause in the Sixth Amendment is so important for criminal defendants. In the case, a criminal defendant’s wife gave a statement to the police that was tape-recorded. The wife refused...