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
██████ ███████ ████ █████████ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ███ ████ ███ ██ █ ██████ █████████████ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ██████ ████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████ ████ ███ ███████ █████ ████ ██ ████████████ ████████ ████ ████ ███████ ██ ███████ ██████████ █████ ███████ ███████ ████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██████ ███████ ██ ██████ ██████ ██ █████████████ █████ ██ █████ ██ ████ ████████ ██████████ █████████ ████████████ ████████ █████████ ████ ██ ██████ ██████████ ███ ████ █████████ ██████████ ██████ ██ ███ ████████ ████████ ████ ███ ██████ ██████ █████ ██ ████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ████ █████████ ███████ ████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ██ ██ ████████ █████ ██ ██ ████ ██ █████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ █████ ██ █████ ██████ ███ ███ ████ ██ █ █████████████ ██ ███ █████████████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ██ ███ ██████ █████ ██ █████ ██████ ████ ██ █ ████████████ ██ ████ ███ █████████████ ████ ███
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
███ ███████ ███████ ████ ███ ██████ ███ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ █ █████ ██ ██████████ ████████████ ███ ███ ███████ ███ ██████████ ██ █████ █████████ ███████████ ████████ ████ ████████ █████████ █████ ██ ███ ██ ████ ██████ ██████ ████ ███████ ██ ███████ ███ ████ █████████ █████████ ██████████ ███████ ███ ████ ███ ██ ██████ ███████████ ███ ██ ████████████ ██████████ ███████████ ████ ███ ████ ███████ ████████ ███
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
27.
Which one of the following ███ ██ ████ ██████████ ████████ ████ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ ████████
a
The tendency of ███████ █████████ ██ █████ ██████████ █████████ █████████ ███ ██ ███████████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ █████████ ███ ███████████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ████ ████ █████████
Not supported, because the author doesn’t discuss emotions. So we have no basis to think there’s “no correlation” between being emotionally affected by events and the likelihood of unreliable testimony based on leading questions.
b
Leading questions asked ██ ███ ███████ ██ █ █████████ ███████████ ██ █ ███████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ██████████ █████████ ████ ███ ███████ █████████ █████ ███████ ███ ██████████
Not supported, because the author never suggests leading questions inside the courtroom are more likely to lead to inaccurate testimony than leading questions outside. Although both kinds of leading questions can lead to inaccurate testimony, we have no evidence one kind is more likely to produce inaccurate testimony than the other.
c
The memory processes ██ █████ █████ ██████████ ████ ████ ██ █████████ ██████████ ██████████ ███████ ██ ██████ ███ ███ ████████ ██ ██████████ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ ██████████
Not supported, because the author discusses in P2 the processes by which newly introduced data in leading questions can reinforce our memories. If the author thought these processes were irrelevant, she wouldn’t discuss them in P2.
d
The risk of █████████ █████ ██████████ ███ ██ ███████ █████ ███████ █████ ██ ████████ ██ ██ ████████████ ██████████████ ██ ██████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ █████████ ██████████
e
The traditional grounds ██ █████ ███████ █████████ ███ ██ ████████ ████ █████████ █████████████ ██ █████████ ████ ████ ██████ ████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ██████ ████████
The recent studies support the idea that leading questions can have an effect on witnesses’ memories. So, if anything, they might support the grounds on which leading questions can be excluded from the courtroom (because they can produce unreliable testimony).