In the first part of this series, I attempted to assuage our fears of what is lost by conducting jury selection virtually by identifying what we have gained from this new medium. In the second and final part of this series, I address the concern with jurors' ability to evaluate the credibility of witnesses who testify remotely or are wearing masks (i.e., in a socially distanced courtroom), as well as to empathize with them and ensure due process (i.e., honor the presumption of innocence). Drawing again upon theory and anecdote, I demonstrate that our fears are much less palpable than originally thought.

Evaluating Witness Credibility

One of the most seminal findings in psychology is that people, regardless of their level of alleged "expertise" or other individual difference characteristics, are not very good at detecting deception (Bond & DePaulo, 2006, 2008). In fact, overall rates of correctly identifying lies from truths are no better than chance. What we have found, however, is that there is some variability in the inclination to view others as truthful, and some people are perceived as more credible whether they are lying or telling the truth.

For example, some people are generally more suspicious of communications in general and those people are, not surprisingly, more likely to view others as lying. Jurors may, by virtue of being a juror, be more likely to evaluate witnesses through a lens of skepticism a priori. The largest determinant of deception detection, though, is the credibility of the person being judged. Some people simply look more honest than others (e.g., infants with baby faces are seen as more honest and infants who look mature are seen as more dishonest (Masip, Garrido, & Herrero, 2004). Through social reinforcement, children's degree of "facial honesty" will determine whether they learn that lying does or does not benefit them. Children who appear facially honest will learn that they can avoid punishment by lying and, over time, will become better liars. Those who appear facially dishonest will learn that lying does not serve their purposes and will not cultivate their lying skills. It is no wonder, then, that people are poor lie detectors: The information we think we should be relying on when judging lies from truths (e.g., demeanor, body language, appearance) is confounded by the skills of the speaker.