WHAT SOCIAL-SCIENCE TEACHES US ABOUT THE JURY INSTRUCTION PROCESS

This article critically examines the social science research relevant to evaluating the effectiveness of judicial. instructions. For several decades it has been shown repeatedly that jurors' comprehension of in structions is poor. Consequently, factors that contribute to instructi on ineffectiveness are examined. In addition to focusing on the genera l problem of instruction comprehension, this article reviews limitatio ns associated with a variety of specific types of instructions. Fortun ately, several solutions for improving comprehension rates have been e mpirically demonstrated, the most notable of these being rewriting ins tructions based on commonly accepted psycholinguistic principles. Othe r solutions are also addressed. The article concludes with a discussio n of the implications of these findings for public policy.