PT153.S1.P3.Q16 > Analytics

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Criminal courts frequently rely on accomplice witnesses (witnesses who testify regarding the role of an alleged co-conspirator in a crime) and jailhouse informants (witnesses who provide testimony based on information obtained while incarcerated) for prosecutorial information. █████████ ███ █████████ ████████ ██ ████ ███████████ █████████ ████████ ███████████ ████████ ███████ ███ ██████████ █████████████ ████ ███ ████████ █████ ███ ███████ █ █████████ ██████████ ██ ███ ██████

Intro topic · Testimony from accomplice witnesses and jailhouse informants

This testimony is usually based on conversations between the witnesses and the defendant.

Problem · Cooperating witnesses have an incentive to lie

They get a reduced sentence of other benefits in exchange for the testimony.

Purported safeguards · Courts recognize risk of cooperating witnesses, but say there are enough safeguards in place

These safeguards include cross-examination of a cooperating witness's motivations.

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Main Point · Critique / problem: safeguards not enough

Premise · Prosecutors may imply a benefit for the cooperating witness

Because it's not an explicit deal, they don't have to be disclosed to the jury. So, even cross-examination might not reveal the cooperating witness's incentive to lie.

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Premise · Jurors might not realize how much a cooperating witness's testimony can be influenced by their incentives

Research on confession testimony shows that jurors don't realize how much a defendant's incentive to confess affects their decision to confess. This suggests that jurors might not realize the impact of incentives on a cooperating witness's testimony.

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Explanation for juror's reaction to confession evidence · People tend to explain behavior of others in terms of internal feelings rather than external factors

So, jurors didn't seem to realize that a defendant's confession was due to external pressures (threats); they interpreted the confession as if it had to be an admission of guilt.

Similar explanation for reaction to cooperating witnesses · Jurors may not realize that cooperating witnesses are affected by external factors

Passage Style

Critique or debate

Problem-analysis

16.

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

Do jurors give ███ ████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ████████ ██ █ ███████████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ ██ ██████████ ████████ ████████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████████

The passage states that jurors give too much weight to confession evidence provided directly by the defendant, then draws an analogy suggesting jurors similarly give too much weight to confession evidence from cooperating witnesses. While both types receive undue weight, this doesn't mean jurors give them equivalent weight - the passage doesn't compare the relative amounts of weight given to each type.

37%

To what extent ███ ███████████ ███ █████████████ ███████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ █████ ██████████ ██ ██████████ █████████ ███ █████████ ██████████ ██ ████████ ███ ██████████

The passage discusses potential downsides of offering incentives, not restrictions on the ability to offer them.

Prosecutors realize that certain incentives may be counterproductive because they can be exposed during cross-examination. But this is a strategic disadvantage, not a legal or procedural limitation on their ability to offer incentives in the first place.

Is the bartered █████████ ██ ██ ██████████ ███████ ███ ████ ██ ████ ████████ ████ ███ ████████ █████████ ██ █ █████████ ██████████

The passage does not distinguish between accomplice witness and jailhouse informant with regard to who is more reliable. The passage treats both as cooperating witnesses.

How common is ███ ███████████ ██ ███████████ █████████ ███ █████████ ███████ █████ ██████████

Rarely.

48%

To what extent ██ ██████ ████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ███████ ████ █ ███████ ██ ██████

The passage does not talk about the variance in jurors’ ability to detect lies.

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PrepTest 153 - Section 1 - Passage 3 - Question 16

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