An “admission against interest” is an exception to the hearsay rule, which prevents out-of-court statements from being admitted into evidence at the time of trial
This “admission against interest” exception to the hearsay rule applies to both criminal and civil trials.
An out-of-court statement made by a party or a witness that, if true, goes against that person’s legal or financial interest is an exception to the hearsay rule. The rationale for allowing such out-of-court statements at trial is that people don’t ordinarily admit to something that goes against their own interest unless it is true.
For example, why would a witness admit to stealing a person’s credit card and incriminate himself unless he really did steal the credit card? Therefore an admission against one’s own interest is thought to carry a degree of trustworthiness.
