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
2.
One critic characterizes judges' instructions ██ █████████
a
deliberate only on ████ ████ █████ ██ █ █████ ███ ███ ██ ████ ████ ████ ██████████
This best captures the idea that juries can’t be expected to ignore information they learned outside the courtroom. Some critics think it’s beyond the jury’s ability to filter out things they learned before trial and to make sure their decisions aren’t influenced by those things.
b
distinguish between pretrial ███████████ ███ ███ ██████ █████ ██ █ ████
This doesn’t capture the idea of ignoring things the jury learned outside the courtroom. Pretrial speculation isn’t information the jury learned outside the courtroom. Rather, it’s hypothesizing and theorizing about what might be true.
c
hear about a ████ ██████ █████ ███████ ███████ ██ ███████ █████ ██
This doesn’t capture the idea of ignoring things the jury learned outside the courtroom. The phrase we’re asked about is part of a critic’s response to specific instructions given by judges to juries. That instruction isn’t that jurors shouldn’t form an opinion before trial; it’s that jurors should ignore information they learned outside the court.
d
identify accurately the ██████ ██ █████ █████████ ████ ███ ███████ █████ █ ████
This doesn’t capture the idea of ignoring things the jury learned outside the courtroom. The phrase we’re asked about is part of a critic’s response to specific instructions given by judges to juries. That instruction isn’t that jurors should try to accurately identify how much knowledge they have about the case. The instruction is to ignore information they learned outside the courtroom. Their assessment of how much information they have from outside the courtroom is irrelevant. However much that information is, jurors are supposed to ignore it.
e
protect themselves from ██████ ████████████ ████████ █████████
This doesn’t capture the idea of ignoring things the jury learned outside the courtroom. The phrase we’re asked about is part of a critic’s response to specific instructions given by judges to juries. That instruction isn’t that jurors should protect themselves from pretrial information. It’s that they should ignore information they learn outside the courtroom. There’s a difference between trying to avoid learning information and ignoring information that one has learned.