Eyewitness error is one of the leading causes of wrongful convictions. In fact, the American
Psychological Association estimates that one in three eyewitnesses make an erroneous …

Although the jury is often referred to as one of the bulwarks of the American justice system, it
regularly comes under attack. Recent changes to trial procedures, such as reducing jury …

Abstract Objectives The New Jersey Supreme Court recently determined that jurors may not
be able to effectively evaluate eyewitness evidence on their own. As a result, the Court …

Research consistently shows that techniques currently used to simplify jury instructions do
not always improve mock jurors' comprehension. If improvements are observed, these are …

In recent decades, social scientists have shown that the reliability of eyewitness
identifications is much worse than laypersons tend to believe. Although courts have only …

Eyewitness identifications made under poor witnessing or identification conditions have
resulted in numerous wrongful convictions [National Registry of Exonerations.(2017) …

It would seem important that jury instructions are clear and comprehensible to jurors if they
are to effectively carry out their responsibility in criminal trials. Research suggests, however …

The right to trial by jury granted by the Constitution is one of the cornerstones of American
democracy. Jury trials allow the public to participate in the judicial process, which prevents …

Cognitive scientists have firmly established that memory is vulnerable to decay and
distortion. Yet laypeople–who may be required to evaluate memory evidence as jurors–have …

We investigated whether enhanced jury instructions, which added empirical findings about
confession evidence to standard jury instructions, could sensitize mock jurors to the …