Unreasonable Doubt? Clearing Up the Convoluted Language of Jury Instructions
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The Takeaway is exploring one crucial aspect of the U.S. justice system — juries — in a new series called "Of Our Peers: Improving the Jury System in America."
Once they’re selected, are we setting jurors up to fail? Jury instructions tell jurors what they need to know about the law in a particular case, and how to come up with a verdict. But there’s ample evidence that the language of jury instructions — critical to the understanding of fundamental concepts like reasonable doubt — has long been composed of legalese and complicated or outdated wording.
Some states have worked hard in recent years to put jury instructions into “plain English” so jurors can better understand what's being asked of them. But Nancy Marder, who studies the language of jury instructions and serves on a committee that writes them for the state of Illinois, says we've still got a ways to go.
To help jurors understand how to perform their civic duty, she proposes changes like allowing jurors to ask questions of the judge like letting jurors ask questions of the judge.
