Which of the following statements about hearsay is true?

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Hearsay refers to an out-of-court statement offered to prove the truth of what it asserts. The reason this rule matters is that cross-examination is a primary way to test reliability—the witness’s memory, perception, and sincerity can be examined in court. When the statement comes from someone not present in court, there’s no opportunity to cross-examine that declarant, so assessing reliability becomes much harder. Because of that, hearsay is generally inadmissible unless it fits one of the recognized exceptions or there is a permissible exclusion.

That’s why the statement saying hearsay is generally inadmissible due to the lack of cross-examination for reliability is the most accurate. It reflects the underlying purpose of the hearsay rule: to keep out unreliable out-of-court assertions unless a specific exception applies. The other options aren’t correct because unavailability does not automatically make hearsay admissible, writing alone does not guarantee admissibility, and there are many exceptions to the rule, so the blanket claim that there are no exceptions is false.