Self-study
Journalist: Support When judges do not maintain strict control over their courtrooms, lawyers often try to influence jury verdicts by using inflammatory language and by badgering witnesses. █████ ███████████ █████████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██████ ██ █████ █ ███████ ████████ ████████ ███████ ██████ ██ ████ █████████ ██████████ ██ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ ████████
Summarize Argument
A Journalist argues that it is reasonable to doubt whether a verdict is correct when judges do not maintain strict control over their courtrooms. Without such control, lawyers often use inflammatory language and badger witnesses, hindering the jury’s effort to reach a correct verdict.
Notable Assumptions
The Journalist assumes that lawyers often effectively influence jury verdicts through obstructive behaviors.
The Journalist also assumes that the impact of obstructive behaviors outweighs that of other evidence/testimony
16.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ███████ ███ ████████████ █████████
a
Court proceedings overseen ██ ██████ ███ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ███████████ ████████ ████████ ███ █████ ██ ██████ █████████ ██ █████████ █████████
While this casts doubt on the reliability of trials with strict judges, it does not weaken the link between obstructive behaviors warranting being skeptical of the verdict.
Illusory inconsistency
Illusory inconsistency
Answer is attractive because it seems to (but doesn't actually) contradict the premises or conclusion.
b
Lawyers tend to ██ ████ █████████ ████ ███ ██████ █████ ███████ ███ ████████ ██ ████ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ████
It does not matter whether lawyers or judges are concerned with the outcomes of jury trials. The argument is focused on the impact of obstructive behaviors on the verdict
c
People who are ██████████ ██ ████████████ ████████ ███ ████ ████████ ██ █████ ██ ████ █████ ████ ████ ████ ████ ██████████ ██ ████ █████████
It does not matter whether people admit that they were influenced by inflammatory language. The argument is focused on the impact of such language
d
Obstructive courtroom behavior ██ █ ██████ ██ ██████ █████████ ██ █████ █████ ██████ ███ ████ █████████ ████ ██████████ █████████
This undermines a key assumption: that the impact of obstructive behavior will outweigh legitimate evidence. If it is rarely effective in cases with legitimate evidence, the conclusion is severely weakened.
e
The selection of ██████ ██ █████ ██ ████ ██ ██ ██████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████ ████ ███ ████ ██ █████
The jury selection process is irrelevant to the argument’s reasoning. The argument is focused on the link between obstructive behavior and the verdict’s validity