PrepTest 104 - Section 3 - Passage 1 - Question 6

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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

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Solution · Moving trials to new venues, giving specific instructions to juries

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Critique (of Solution) · Change of venue and instructions cannot render jurors impartial

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Solution · Voir dire

Questioning of potential jurors to determine impartiality

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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.

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

Which one of the following ██████████ ██ ████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ █████████ █████████

Question Type

Implied

Principle or generalization

We’re looking for a principle that is most “in keeping” with the passage’s argument. Let’s look for an answer that, at a minimum, the author would agree with. In theory, there might be multiple answers the author agrees with, but only one of them is a “principle in keeping with the argument.” But that’s not a situation that practically arises. We can expect the four wrong answers won’t have support, and the correct answer is the only one we have reason to believe the author agrees with.

Jurors should put █████ █████ ████████ ███████████ ████ ████████████ █ ████ ███ ████ █████ ████████ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ████████████

Anti-supported. The author doesn’t believe impartiality requires jurors to set aside their personal experiences.

Jurors should rely ██ █████ ███████ ██████████ ████ ████████████ █ ████ ████ ████ ███ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ██████ ██████

Supported, because the author thinks impartiality results from a process of deliberation among a panel of informed, opinionated people. The author doesn’t want jurors to try to ignore information they learned from mass media exposure. They’re allowed to make decisions based on all of their knowledge.

85%

Jurors should make █████ ██████ ████ ████████████ █ ████ ██ ██████ ███████████ █████ ███ ████ ████ ████ ███ ████ ███████ ████ ███ ████ ██████

Anti-supported. The author doesn’t believe impartiality requires jurors to ignore information from the mass media.

Jurors should be ████████ ██ ████ █ ████ █████ ██ █████ ██████ ██ ████████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ██████

Not supported. Although the author does believe mass media exposure can be helpful for achieving an impartial jury, this doesn’t imply the author thinks jurors should be selected based on how much exposure they’ve received. We don’t know, for example, that the author thinks jurors with more exposure should be picked for a jury over those with less exposure.

Jurors should be ████████ ██ ████ █ ████ █████ ██ █████ ████████ ██ ███████ ████ ███████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███ ████ █████ ███ █████ ██ ██ █████████

Anti-supported. The author doesn’t believe impartiality requires jurors to avoid mass-media coverage.

PrepTest 104 - Section 3 - Passage 1 - Question 6

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