FEW EVIDENCE rules so frequently demonstrate an ambivalence between policies (some would say hypocrisy) as the rule governing uncharged crimes.
On one hand is the general bar against using evidence of a person’s character to prove consistent conduct, which in a criminal case precludes introducing the defendant’s other illegal acts to show that he has a propensity making it more likely that he committed the crime charged. This bar reflects a judgment that whatever probative value the evidence has is likely to be substantially outweighed by the risk that the jury will improperly use it by overestimating its value or by punishing the defendant simply for being a bad person rather than for having committed the charged crime.[1]�
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