Title

Improving Comprehension Of Capital Sentencing Instructions: Debunking Juror Misconceptions

Keywords

Capital punishment; Judicial instructions; Jury; Sentencing

Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated that judicial instructions on the law are not well understood by jurors tasked with applying the law to the facts of a case. The past research has also shown that jurors are often confused by the instructions used in the sentencing phase of a capital trial. The current research tested the effectiveness of a debunking approach to improving juror misunderstanding associated with capital sentencing instructions. Participants were randomly assigned to hear either Florida's pattern instructions used in the penalty phase of a capital trial or the same instructions with additional statements that mentioned and refuted misconceptions thought to be associated with established areas of miscomprehension. After participants heard the judicial instructions, their understanding of the law on capital punishment decision making was assessed. The results revealed that comprehension was higher for participants exposed to the bias-refutation statements than for participants who were exposed to only the pattern instructions. © 2007 Sage Publications.

Publication Date

7-1-2007

Publication Title

Crime and Delinquency

Volume

53

Issue

3

Number of Pages

502-517

Document Type

Review

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128706294681

Socpus ID

34250171747 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/34250171747

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