Self-study
P1
Leading questions—questions worded in such a way as to suggest a particular answer—can yield unreliable testimony either by design, as when a lawyer tries to trick a witness into affirming a particular version of the evidence of a case, or by accident, when a questioner unintentionally prejudices the witness's response. ███
Problem ·
Leading questions
Can produce unreliable testimony.
Solution ·
Judge can disallow leading questions in the courtroom
Problem ·
Leading questions outside the courtroom
A witness's beliefs can be affected by leading questions asked by lawyers, police, reporters, or others before the witness gets in the courtroom.
P2
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Details of problem ·
New "facts" that don't conflict with memories can become part of memories
If the new "facts" correspond with our memory, they'll be interpreted as reinforcing our memory. If the new "facts" involve a gap in our memory, we may use them to fill in the gap.
Example ·
"How fast was the car going when it passed the stop sign?"
The witness may not have seen a stop sign, but when asked this question, may falsely recall seeing one.
P3
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Details of problem ·
Farther removed from event, more tangential detail -> higher chance new "fact" blends with original memory
Significance of problem ·
Tangential details can be critical in the courtroom
Example: Suspect's shirt color or hairstyle might be tangential to witness of robbery. But these are critical to identifying the correct suspect. These kinds of details are exactly the kind susceptible to influence from leading questions.
Passage Style
Problem-analysis
Single position
20.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████
a
The unreliability of ████████ █████ ██████████ ███████ ██ ████████ ██████ █████ ██████████ █████████ ██████████ ████████████ ██ █████ ██ █████ ███ ███████ ███ ███ ████████ █████████
(A) mentions nothing about leading questions outside the courtroom and their potential impact. So it can’t be the main point.
b
Because of the ██████ ██ █████ ██████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ███ █████████ █████████ ██ ████████████ ███ ███████ ███████ ████████████ ███ ██ ███████ █████████ █████ █████ ██ ███ █████████ ███████████
This best captures the main point, which is that leading questions outside the courtroom can produce inaccurate testimony by witnesses in the courtroom. The author presents this problem at the end of P1 and discusses various factors that increase the likelihood of inaccurate testimony in the rest of the passage.
c
Researchers are surprised ██ ████ ████ █████████ █████████ ██ █████ █████████ ██ ██████████ ██ ████ ████ ████ ██ ████████████ █████████ ██ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ████████ █████████
(C) mentions nothing about leading questions outside the courtroom and their potential impact. So it can’t be the main point. In addition, the author never suggests that anyone was “surprised” by the fact that witnesses might fill in gaps in their memory based on others’ suggestions.
d
Although judges can ████████ ███████ █████████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██ ██ █████████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ████ ████ █████ ████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ██████
The author doesn’t suggest that it’s “impossible” to prevent the use of leading questions outside the courtroom. The author does discuss the effect of leading questions outside the courtroom, but at no point does she suggest we can’t try to stop the use of leading questions outside the courtroom.
e
Stricter regulation should ██ ██████ ██ ███████ █████ ███████ █████████ ███ ███████ ██████████ █████████ ██ ███████████ ██████████ ████ █████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██████████ ██ ███ ██████████
The author doesn’t advocate for stricter regulation of lawyers. If you like this answer, you’re picking it based on your own unwarranted assumptions about what the author probably thinks. But you can’t point to any line in which the author advocates for stricter regulation.