US · rules

Fed. R. Evid. 608

A Witness’s Character for Truthfulness or Untruthfulness

activein force · 2024-12-01 – presentact-effective-date

(a) R EPUTATION OR OPINION EVIDENCE. A witness’s credibility

may be attacked or supported by testimony about the witness’s

reputation for having a character for truthfulness or untruthfulness, or by testimony in the form of an opinion about that character. But evidence of truthful character is admissible only after

the witness’s character for truthfulness has been attacked.

(b) SPECIFIC INSTANCES OF CONDUCT. Except for a criminal conviction under Rule 609, extrinsic evidence is not admissible to

prove specific instances of a witness’s conduct in order to attack

or support the witness’s character for truthfulness. But the court

may, on cross-examination, allow them to be inquired into if they

are probative of the character for truthfulness or untruthfulness

of:

(1) the witness; or

(2) another witness whose character the witness being cross-examined has testified about.

By testifying on another matter, a witness does not waive any

privilege against self-incrimination for testimony that relates

only to the witness’s character for truthfulness.

(As amended Mar. 2, 1987, eff. Oct. 1, 1987; Apr. 25, 1988, eff. Nov.

1, 1988; Mar. 27, 2003, eff. Dec. 1, 2003; Apr. 26, 2011, eff. Dec. 1, 2011.)

Provenance

Source: uscourts.gov
Retrieved: 2026-09-03
Edition: 2026-08-19
Content hash: 6efd7027fb648b5b4609de14968a082248b31e520176760488b7fc81e990c3a7

View the official source →

The link goes to the issuing authority’s own document — the one we read to produce this record. Where a source publishes whole titles rather than sections, your browser may need a moment to jump to the provision.

Unofficial copy of government-published law, reproduced from official sources with full provenance. Not an official publication; verify against official sources before relying on it in a filing. Records in the 'guidance' corpus, and only that corpus, are sub-regulatory (interpretive guidelines, survey procedures) and are not binding law. Validity bounds follow each jurisdiction's declared temporalBasis.

Coverage · API docs