Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Character witnesses are allowed to testify in a criminal matter, however, attorneys ofter don't use character witnesses because it puts character into issue and the attorney may fear that adverse evidence on character that otherwise would not be admissible against the defendant would be admitted to his detriment. If you are asking about admitting character evidence for the prosecution, it is not admissible unless the defendant or the issues in the case raise character as an issue.