Testing the Effects of Selects Jury Trial Innovations on Jur

Project Summary for 2002-IJ-CX-0026 (S-1)

The applicant, Judge Michael Dann, has been a Practitioner Visiting Fellow at the National Institute of Justice designing a project that will test the effects of selected jury trail innovations on juror comprehension of challenging material, in particular contested DNA evidence. The innovations are 1) conducting a pretrial tutorial in basic DNA science, 2) allowing jurors to ask questions of expert witnesses, 3) allowing juror discussion of the evidence during trial recesses, and 4) providing jurors with a checklist to follow and evaluate the DNA evidence. Fifty mock jury trials, 10 for control purposes and 40 experimental, will be conducted using the same factual scenario and DNA presentation. Questionnaires will be administered to all the groups at the conclusion of the trials and following jury deliberations. Jury deliberations and trial discussions (where permitted) will be videotaped for later study.

ca/ncf