Rock v. Arkansas

Rock v. Arkansas
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued March 23, 1987 Decided June 22, 1987
Full case name	Rock v. Arkansas
Citations	483 U.S. 44 (more) 107 S. Ct. 2704; 97 L. Ed. 2d 37
Holding
Criminals have a right to testify on their own behalf.
Court membership
Chief Justice William Rehnquist Associate Justices William J. Brennan Jr. · Byron White Thurgood Marshall · Harry Blackmun Lewis F. Powell Jr. · John P. Stevens Sandra Day O'Connor · Antonin Scalia
Case opinions
Majority	Blackmun, joined by Brennan, Marshall, Powell, Stevens
Dissent	Rehnquist, joined by White, O'Connor, Scalia

Rock v. Arkansas, 483 U.S. 44 (1987), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held criminals have a right to testify on their own behalf.^[1]

An 1864 appropriations act allowed defendants to testify for themselves.^[2]

The movement in favor of allowing defendants to testify for themselves was popular, but its critics worried that it would destroy the presumption of innocence because of the perception that someone innocent of a crime would certainly speak to defend themselves and a guilty person certainly would not. This perception is inaccurate, especially in the case of people with criminal records. Criminal pasts become admissible when they take the witness stand and can be used as evidence against the defendant's character in jury trials. In a sense, the critics' worries have come to pass, as there is a measurable difference between the conviction rates of innocent people when they do or do not testify. Juries convict those who choose not to testify at a higher rate.^[3][4]

References[]

External links[]

• Text of Rock v. Arkansas, 483 U.S. 44 (1987) is available from: Cornell  CourtListener  Findlaw  Justia  Library of Congress  Oyez (oral argument audio) 

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