PrepTest 109 - Section 2 - Passage 4 - Question 23

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By the time Bentham turned his interest to the subject, late in the eighteenth century, most components of modern evidence law had been assembled. ███

Intro to Topic · Modern evidence law

Historical Example · Parties to a case cannot testify

E.g., a defendant in a criminal case had no right to testify. This rule has been abandoned.

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Historical Context · Exclusionary rules were typical and over-applied

Usually based on rational grounds. But mechanically and hence over-applied.

Consequence / Problem · Obscured truth

As a consequence of exclusionary rules, truth would not emerge from trials.

Bentham's Solution · Inclusion is the rule, exclusion is the exception

If relevant, then include. Narrow exceptions made for exclusion. Flips the status quo of evidence law (exclusion rule, inclusion exception) on its head.

Problem / Critique · Some types of evidence are inherently unreliable

For example, interested-party testimony and hearsay evidence.

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Solution / Rebuttal · Let the jury decide

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Problem / Critique · Some relevant evidence is more likely to produce false verdict

Example · Evidence of defendant's past bank robberies

Sure, it's relevant. But it also prejudices the jury (meaning it makes jury think that being a bank-robber is in his character) and so hurts the jury's ability to decide correctly in this case.

Problem / Critique · Bentham's exceptions are inconsistently applied

Bentham concedes that there can be other values more important than admitting relevant evidence. That's why he excludes sacramental confessions. Okay, but that same reason should also apply to exclude other privileged communications.

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Consequence · Bentham's principle prevails

Despite the concerns raise, Bentham's idea of admitting evidence by default and excluding evidence only when there are clear reasons for doing so is now the standard.

Passage Style

Critique or debate

Problem-analysis

23.

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

Question Type

Main point

In a Problem-Analysis style of passage, if the passage discusses a solution, the main point should involve the solution and the author’s opinion about it, if any. Here, Bentham proposed a solution to the problem of irrational evidence laws: the nonexclusion principle. The author offers some slight criticism of Bentham’s rule in P4, but overall, Bentham’s solution offered a way forward and influenced modern evidence law.

Bentham questioned the ██████████ ██ ██████ █████ ██ █████ █████████

This doesn’t capture Bentham’s proposed solution. It’s also unsupported, because Bentham didn’t question modern evidence law; he questioned 18th-century evidence law.

Bentham's proposed reform ██ █████ ██ ████████ ███ █████████ ███ ███████████

This captures the passage’s focus on Bentham’s solution and the author’s opinion about it. Bentham’s proposed reform was imperfect, as described in P4, but overall an improvement.

90%

Bentham's nonexclusion principle ██████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ██████████ █████████████

Although the author offers light criticism of Bentham’s principle, she doesn’t advocate for reexamining the principle.

Rules of legal ████████ ██████████ ██████ █████████ ██████████ ██ ███████████ ██████ ███ ████████████

This doesn’t capture Bentham’s proposed solution.

Despite their impairment ██ ████████ ███████████ █████ ██ █████ ████████ ███ █████████ ██ ███████

This doesn’t capture Bentham’s proposed solution.

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PrepTest 109 - Section 2 - Passage 4 - Question 23

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