Numerical evidence in commercial fraud trials

Juries trying cases of commercial fraud can be faced with literally hundreds of numerical exhibits. This evidence often includes balance sheets, which may be photocopies from ledgers, as well as large tabular arrays showing a company's business over several years, There can also be complex graphs of various kinds. This paper reports a brief three-month project in which it was demonstrated that redesigning the numerical information presented to jurors could be worthwhile. Nevertheless, measurements of people's accuracy and subjective appraisal of the exhibits showed that not all revisions were as successful as had been hoped, Hence 'research continues'.