Jury Instructions Should Prioritize Reflector Variables Recorded During the First Test of an Eyewitness’s Memory

Jurors tend to be insensitive to the difference between reliable vs. unreliable eyewitness evidence, and jury instructions have been proposed as one way to address that problem. However, numerous studies have found that existing jury instructions are largely ineffective. Here, we test the effectiveness of instructions designed to capitalize on a new understanding of the importance of “reflector variables,” namely, confidence and decision time on the initial test of a witness’s memory. In three experiments, we found that reflector variable instructions successfully sensitized participants to strong eyewitness evidence (immediate-high confidence ID at the first test followed by a high-confidence ID at trial) vs. weak eyewitness evidence (hesitant-low confidence ID at the first test followed by a high-confidence ID at trial). Overall, our results provide evidence that reflector variable instructions can shift jurors’ attention from the more attractive in-court identification to the more important initial identification.