UCLA School of Law

All of the Supreme Court's confrontation decisions since Crawford have dealt with statements to or by adults and government officials. In Clark v. Ohio, the Court faced two issues: (1) are private persons held to the same standards regarding testimonial hearsay as police officers? and; (2) are minors subject to the same confrontation standards as adults? As the concurring opinions point out, the majority opinion by Justice Alito waffled on these two questions. This essay explores these points.

A somewhat different version of this essay will appears as § 6371.8 in the 2017 Supplement to 30A Wright & Graham, Federal Practice and Procedure Evidence.