Self-study
P1
The expansion of mass media has led to an explosion in news coverage of criminal activities to the point where it has become virtually impossible to find citizens who are unaware of the details of crimes committed in their communities. █████ ██ ██ █████████ ████████ ████ ██████ ███ ████ ███ █████ ██ █ ████ ███ ████ ██████ ████ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██ ████ ██ ███████ █████ ███ █████ ███ ████ ██ ██ ████ █████████ ██ ███████ ██████ ███ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███ █████ ████████ ██████████ ██ █████ ██ ██████ █ ████████ ██████████ █████████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ ██ █ ████████ ████ ██ █████ ████████ ███████ ████████████ ██ ██████ █████████ ██████ ██ ██████ ██ ██████ █████████
Problem ·
Mass media coverage of crime has made it hard to impanel impartial jurors
P2
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Solution ·
Moving trials to new venues, giving specific instructions to juries
Critique (of Solution) ·
Change of venue and instructions cannot render jurors impartial
P3
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Solution ·
Voir dire
Questioning of potential jurors to determine impartiality
Critique (of Solution) ·
Voir dire is unrealiable
1. Some potential jurors don't tell the truth; 2. Some potential jurors are confused about what they know; 3. Some judges ask leading questions.
P4
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Consequences of Critique ·
Some countries have abandoned voir dire
Problem ·
How to ensure impartiality?
Author's Solution ·
With the right jury composition
Impartiality is a property not of an individual juror but rather of the collective jury. It can be achieved via a process of deliberation among informed, curious, and even opinionated jurors.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Problem-analysis
1.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████
a
Due to the █████████ ██ ████ ██████ ███████████ ███████ ███ ████████ ███ ████████████ ██ ██████ ███ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ██████████ ██ ████ █████ ███████ ███ ██ ████████████
Although the author does discuss flaws in other methods of getting impartiality, (A) leaves out the author’s advocacy for a particular solution. The author wants us to rethink what it means for a jury to be impartial. (A) doesn’t mention this solution.
b
Criticisms of traditional ███████ ███ ████████ ███ ████████████ ██ ██████ ████ ███ ████ █████████ ██ ███████ █████ ███████ █████████
Although the author does mention that some countries have abandoned voir dire, (B) leaves out the author’s advocacy for a particular solution. The author wants us to rethink what it means for a jury to be impartial. (B) doesn’t mention this solution.
c
Of the three ███████████ ███████ ███ ████████ ███ ████████████ ██ ███████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ███████ █████ ██████ ███ ██ ████ ███ ████ ███████
The author never suggests that voir dire is the “most” flawed remedy. In addition, (C) leaves out the author’s advocacy for a particular solution. The author wants us to rethink what it means for a jury to be impartial. (C) doesn’t mention this solution.
d
Voir dire is ███████████ ██ ████████ ████████████ ███ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ██████ █████████ ██████ ██ ████████████ █████ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ █████
This is supported by the criticism described in P3, but (D) leaves out the author’s advocacy for a particular solution. The author wants us to rethink what it means for a jury to be impartial. (D) doesn’t mention this solution.
e
Due to the █████████ ██ ████ ██████ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████████ ████████ █ ████████████ ██ ████ ███████████ ██ █████████ █████
This best captures the main point, which is the author’s solution proposed at the end of the passage. Rather than think of impartiality as a requirement that jurors not have any exposure to a case, we should think of it as a