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In a court of law, evidence is used to prove the innocence or guilt of a defendant. Prosecution and defense both collect evidence to be used in the trial to convince a judge or a jury of one’s innocence or guilt. Evidence can be physical items such as camera footage, fingerprints, weapons, and so forth. Evidence can also be non-physical like statements of witnesses or a person’s character sketch. There are two types of evidence that can be presented in court. These are direct evidence and circumstantial evidence. Here are the differences between the two.
Direct evidence is based on observation of a fact or personal knowledge of a witness. For example, the witness saw the defendant pull out a gun and fired shots in the air. The crime of firing rounds in the air is within the actual experience of the witness. Traditionally, direct evidence is always linked to eyewitness testimony. But today, photographs, video recordings, and audio recordings are also considered direct evidence.
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Circumstantial evidence, on the other hand, is a bit more complex. If direct evidence has a witness see the actual crime, circumstantial evidence has a witness seeing parts of the crime play out, but only infers key elements of the crime. Using the same example above, the witness sees the defendant pull out a gun but loses sight of them. The witness then hears gunshots fired seconds after losing sight of the defendant. Lastly, the witness sees the defendant once again running away from the scene. Circumstantial evidence can be crafted in a way to prove guilt if enough evidence is presented. However, this type of evidence can be disputed.
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