Abstract

In this research, three different 'Beyond a Reasonable Doubt' instruction types are sorted by psycholinguistic factors and contents, which are previously provided forms in actual process. Presentation of visual aid for better comprehension of legal principles is another variable. To sum, this study is 3 × 2 between-subjects design. 403 people participated in this survey, they responded to the questions regarding guilty judgements and degree of understanding after reviewing summary on the dramatized actual criminal cases. They were also required to consider the minimum prerequisite for deciding 'guilty' or 'not guilty', as well as on which side of the judgements the instructions were focused. As results, recall scores are appeared relevantly higher with simpler instruction than other types, for understanding scores, with visual aid than without it. Also, instruction containing presumption of innocence and prosecutor's burden of proof is considered to be more emphasized on the 'Not guilty' side than 'Guilty' one. Unexpectedly, emphasis on the 'Not guilty' side in instruction, recall scores and understanding scores are rather clearly appeared as a significant preestimated variable on the percentage of 'Guilty' judgement. This research raised the necessity for standardization of the jury instructions in the korean court, accompanying with the positive effect on the understanding with use of visual aid.