direct evidence
Unmediated factual support
Direct evidence proves a fact without requiring inference.
A witness who saw the defendant pull the trigger provides direct evidence of the shooting.
A signed contract is direct evidence of an agreement.
Contrasted with circumstantial evidence, which requires reasoning from one fact to another: The fingerprints were circumstantial, but the security footage was direct evidence.
- eyewitness testimonyEvidence from direct observers
- empirical dataFacts from direct experience
- confessionsActs of revealing guilt
- photographsLight-captured images
- video footageRecorded visual material
corroboration · sensory perception · fingerprints · crime scene investigation · firsthand account · scientific experiments · chain of custody · primary source · audio recordings · admissibility · factual accuracy · cross-examination · open court · burden of proof · beyond reasonable doubt · forensic · courtroom · physical
- evidenceproof, admissible, findings, inadmissible, results
- evidence termscredibility, reliability, validity, verification, corroboration
- testimonyoral testimony, court testimony, sworn testimony, witness statements, sworn statements
- evidentialshearsay, inferential, firsthand, secondhand, eyewitness
- legal presumptionspresumption, presumption of innocence, presumption of death
- legal termstrial, legal, appeal, lawsuit, law
direct evidencespeculation
Unproven theorizing or risky investment
conjecture · hearsay evidence · supposition · tainted evidence · inadmissible evidence