Severance, L. J., & Loftus, E. F. (1982). Improving the ability of jurors to comprehend and apply criminal jury instructions. Law and Society Review, 17(1), 153-197.
Severance, L.; Loftus, E.
1982
Severance, L. J., & Loftus, E. F. (1982). Improving the ability of jurors to comprehend and apply criminal jury instructions. Law and Society Review, 17(1), 153-197.
2
The complexity and linguistic construction of jury instructions can inhibit jurors' ability to comprehend and apply the law. Study 1 analyzes questions asked by actual deliberating jurors in order to identify sources of juror misunderstanding in criminal pattern jury instructions. Instructions concerning "reasonable doubt," criminal "intent," the use of evidence concerning prior convictions, and the general duties of jurors, are selected for further investigation. Study 2 uses videotaped trial materials to pinpoint linguistic problems that confuse jurors and interfere with their abilities to accurately comprehend and apply the selected pattern jury instructions. Available knowledge concerning psycholinguistics is then applied to rewrite the troublesome instructions; in addition, legal expertise is consulted to help assure that the rewritten instructions are legally valid. Study 3 demonstrates that the rewritten instructions improve jurors' understanding relative to Pattern or No instructions. Overall, the research indicates the availibility to the criminal justice system of improved methods for instructing jurors accurately and effectively in the law.
The data from study 2 show that legally untrained people have some difficulty understanding or applying pattern instructions. Presenting specific instructions about the target concepts reduced some errors, but still left an overall error rate of 29,6 percent for comprehension measures, and an overall level of agreement with correct applications of the instructions that was not significantly different from receiving No Instructions. Overall, these data suggest that the standard pattern instructions do not convey the full meaning they are intended to convey.
216
4