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The Effects of Pre-test and Preliminary Instruction on The Comprehension of Judicial Instruction

Korean Journal of Social and Personality Psychology / Korean Journal of Social and Personality Psychology, (P)1229-0653;
2020, v.34 no.3, pp.1-27
https://doi.org/10.21193/kjspp.2020.34.3.001


Abstract

The concern over jurors’ legal decisions under poor comprehension of judicial instruction led many legal psychologists to study ways of improving the understanding. The current study examined the effects of pre-test and preliminary instruction on the juror’s comprehension of the jury instruction. A total of 137 participants were randomly assigned to the four experimental conditions (control, pre-test only, pre-instruction only, pre-test & pre-instruction). To analyze the level of comprehension, we compared understanding scores, and signal detection theory (SDT) measures among the conditions. The experimental manipulation was given before the trial scenario. After the scenario, the judge’s instruction and the comprehension test were provided in all conditions. Regarding the understanding of ‘presumption of innocence’ and ‘evidence,’ the significant main effects of pre-test and preliminary instruction were observed. The hit rate and the sensitivity measure were higher when the methods to improve the comprehension of the instruction were presented, while the response bias measure was lowered. However, the improved understanding did not predict the verdict. In discussion, we discussed the implication of the results and the direction for the juror education to improve the knowledge of jury instruction.

keywords
배심 설시문, 사전검사, 사전설시, 이해도, 신호탐지이론(SDT), jury instruction, pre-test, preliminary instruction, comprehension, signal detection theory (SDT)

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