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
5.
The passage suggests that a █████████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ██ █████ █████ ██ ████ ██ ████
a
determine which facts ███ ███████████ ███ ██████ ██ ████
There’s no evidence mass media coverage can help determine what facts are “appropriate” to hear.
b
improve the ability ██ ██████ ██ ████████ █████ ██████
The author doesn’t think impartiality requires ignoring information and opinions about a case. So we have no reason to think the author believes removal of biases is a benefit. In any case, we also have no evidence that mass media coverage can help minimize biases.
c
strengthen the process ██ █████ ██████ ████ ██ █████████
The author believes that in order to be impartial,
d
change the methods ██████ ███ ██ ████████ █████████ ██████
We have no evidence mass media coverage can change how judges conduct voir dire for jurors.
e
increase potential jurors' █████████ ██ █████ ██████ ██ ████
The author doesn’t think impartiality requires ignoring information and opinions about a case. So we have no reason to think the author believes increasing awareness of biases is a benefit. In any case, we also have no evidence that mass media coverage can help jurors become more aware of their biases.