Deck 12: Preparing for Trials

Question 1

According to Kalven and Zeisel (1966), in criminal cases, juries ___________________ than judges, who convicted defendants in _________ of cases while juries convicted them in ________ of cases.

A)were less lenient; 83.3%; 64.2%
B)were more lenient; 64.2%; 83.3%
C)were more lenient; 24.6%; 64.2%
D)were less lenient; 64.2%; 24.6%

Answer 1

were less lenient; 83.3%; 64.2%

Question 2

The Supreme Court and the U.S. Congress have established requirements for jury selection procedures that include

A)forbidding scientific jury selection.
B)criteria to determine who should be excused from serving.
C)a requirement that the pool from which the jury is selected must constitute a representative cross-section of the community.
D)All of these are correct.

Answer 2

a requirement that the pool from which the jury is selected must constitute a representative cross-section of the community.

Question 3

Which of the following is not up to the judge to decide?

A)Who asks questions during voir dire
B)What questions are asked during voir dire
C)The length of the voir dire process
D)All of these are correct and are decided by the judge.

Answer 3

All of these are correct and are decided by the judge.

Question 4

One reason the courts ruled that juries should be more representative of the population is that verdicts will be more likely to be accepted by the

A)judge.
B)prosecution.
C)defense.
D)public.

Question 5

The law requires that voter registration lists be used as a primary source for jury pool selection, but these lists tend to underrepresent certain segments of the community. What segments of the community are underrepresented?

A)Women
B)Men
C)Poor people
D)College educated

Question 6

Judges and jurors may differ in their outcomes due to ________________, which plays a role in decision-making when jurors are affected by factors outside of the evidence and law.

A)differential cognitive processing
B)jury sentiment
C)jury nullification
D)B or C

Question 7

Research shows that heterogeneous groups are

A)better problem solvers than homogenous groups.
B)worse problem solvers than homogenous groups.
C)just as good at problem solving as homogenous groups.
D)just as good at problem solving as homogenous groups, although they take longer.

Question 8

For many years, the primary source for the jury pool has been from

A)licensed drivers.
B)voter registration lists.
C)persons receiving public assistance.
D)telephone subscribers.

Question 9

Even 50 years ago juries tended to be composed of mostly

A)Black men.
B)Black women.
C)White men.
D)White women.

Question 10

At least one study has suggested that ___________________ showed less support for a jury trial than a bench trial.

A)White Americans
B)Black Americans
C)Hispanic Americans
D)B and C only

Question 11

When someone, such as a juror, strives to present himself or herself in a positive light, that person could be said to be affected by the

A)social eventuality effect.
B)striving to be perfect effect.
C)social desirability effect.
D)positive light effect.

Question 12

Which of the following is true of the jury in the first Rodney King beating trial?

A)It was drawn from a community made up of people demographically similar to those in the community in which the beating took place.
B)It consisted of six Black and six White jurors.
C)It was drawn from a community whose demographics favored the defense.
D)It was drawn from a community whose demographics favored the prosecution.

Question 13

Voir dire is a French term meaning

A)"reasonable doubt."
B)"innocent until proven guilty."
C)"to see, to say."
D)"disregard the testimony."

Question 14

Teddy is at the courthouse because he has been called for jury service. The judge has assembled a group of prospective jurors and is asking them to raise their hand if the answer is "yes" to the questions that he asks. Teddy is part of what?

A)Extended peremptories
B)Limited peremptories
C)Extended voir dire
D)Limited voir dire

Question 15

The judge has assembled a group of prospective jurors and is asking them to raise their hand if the answer is "yes" to the following question. He asks, "Do any of you have an opinion at this time as to the guilt or innocence of the defendant?" The judge sees that no one has raised a hand, so he accepts all as jurors. Did the judge make a good decision?

A)The judge did not make a good decision as asking yes/no questions is not a good way to uncover jurors' biases.
B)The judge did not make a good decision as the proper way to ask jurors questions is to let the attorneys do it.
C)The judge made a good decision as research shows that you can believe those who claim to be impartial.
D)The judge made a good decision because if someone held a strong opinion, they would have raised their hand.

Question 16

According to Kalven and Zeisel (1966), in criminal cases, judges and juries agreed on the actual verdict in ________ of cases.

A)35%
B)55%
C)75%
D)85%

Question 17

Which of the following is the earliest U.S. Supreme Court case that forbade systematic or intentional exclusion of cognizable groups from serving on juries?

A)Strauder v. West Virginia
B)Kentucky v. Batson
C)Purkett v. Elem
D)Powers v. Ohio

Question 18

A bench trial is a trial in which the verdict is decided by a

A)12-person jury.
B)6-person jury.
C)judge.
D)None of these are correct.

Question 19

Eisenberg et al. (2005)conducted a more recent examination of judge and jury verdicts in criminal cases and found that judges and juries agreed on their verdicts in about ____________ of cases.

A)75%
B)70%
C)55%
D)45%

Question 20

According to at least one study of judicial and jury decision-making in civil cases, plaintiffs had more success with judges than juries in cases involving

A)property damage and civil rights.
B)civil rights and labor disputes.
C)contracts and property damage.
D)products liability and medical malpractice.

Question 21

The case of Timothy Foster was a case of _____________ in which the peremptory strikes were deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

A)gender bias in jury selection
B)racial bias in jury selection
C)religious bias in jury selection
D)None of these are correct.

Question 22

A lawyer, during jury selection, notices that one young man is formally dressed in a navy-blue suit, white shirt, and dark tie. He concludes that the young man is politically conservative. This conclusion is an example of

A)scientific jury selection.
B)the fundamental attribution group error.
C)an implicit personality theory.
D)the M'Naghten rule.

Question 23

Olivia, a prospective juror, is about to undergo a thorough voir dire . Which of the following is the best circumstance for uncovering her true biases?

A)Questioning all of the prospective jurors as a group in open court
B)Questioning all of the prospective jurors as a group in the judge's chambers
C)Questioning each individual in open court
D)Questioning each individual in the judge's chambers

Question 24

A total of 24 White persons and six Black persons are called for jury duty. The trial is for armed robbery, the defendant is Black, and the prosecuting attorney uses peremptory challenges given to him to exclude the six Black people. What should the judge do, according to recent Supreme Court decisions?

A)Declare a mistrial and reschedule the trial with a new group of prospective jurors
B)Provide the opposing attorney an additional number of peremptory challenges
C)Ask the prosecuting attorney to explain the grounds for each of his six decisions and determine if the attorney had grounds for dismissal other than race
D)Ask the opposing attorney if he or she wants to challenge the prosecuting attorney's exclusions

Question 25

In voir dire , peremptory challenges allow the attorneys to

A)guarantee the inclusion of particular people on the jury.
B)exclude a certain number of potential jurors for cause.
C)exclude a certain number of potential jurors without giving a reason.
D)exclude as many potential jurors as they deem necessary.

Question 26

Implicit personality theories sometimes lead to a reliance on ________________ in the selection of jurors.

A)stereotypes
B)social psychological evidence
C)specific personality traits
D)None of these are correct.

Question 27

Jurors' demographic variables are ___________________related to their verdicts, but this relationship is ________________ across different kinds of cases.

A)strongly; inconsistent
B)weakly; consistent
C)sometimes; inconsistent
D)None of these are correct.

Question 28

Batson -type protection has been extended to

A)bilingual jurors.
B)obese jurors.
C)African American jurors.
D)All of these are correct.

Question 29

The function of peremptory challenges is to

A)allow each side to exclude a designated number of jurors without stating a reason.
B)promote satisfaction with the outcome as the parties each had a role in choosing the decision makers.
C)allow the attorney to indoctrinate prospective jurors.
D)All of these are correct.

Question 30

Mock jurors who had been victims of the crime for which the defendant was being tried were found to be __________ likely than nonvictims to _________.

A)less; convict
B)more; convict
C)equally; convict
D)equally; acquit

Question 31

The "one-juror verdict" theory assumes that

A)one influential juror will persuade others to vote for his or her preferred verdict.
B)the foreperson will decide the verdict for the jury.
C)a strong-willed lawyer can persuade the jury to decide in his or her favor.
D)the judge is the best person to decide the verdict.

Question 32

The Supreme Court extended the logic of Batson to peremptory challenges based on gender in which case?

A)Holland v. Illinois (1990)
B)Georgia v. McCollum (1992)
C)Edmonson v. Leesville Concrete Co. (1991)
D)J. E. B. v. Alabama ex rel. T. B. (1994)

Question 33

Which case ruled that a White defendant can complain about the exclusion of Blacks from the jury?

A)Batson v. Kentucky (1986)
B)United States v. Dellinger (1972)
C)Powers v. Ohio (1991)
D)Georgia v. McCollum (1992)

Question 34

If voir dire reveals that a juror is biased, that juror is excluded for

A)peremptory bias.
B)serving within that jurisdiction.
C)challenges for cause.
D)good.

Question 35

Which type of question would be most likely to encourage prospective jurors to talk more about their feelings and experiences?

A)A closed-ended question
B)An open-ended question
C)A restricted question
D)A fixed alternative question

Question 36

During the jury selection process, the attorneys have a specific predetermined number of

A)challenges for cause.
B)peremptory challenges.
C)voir dire challenges.
D)questions they can ask the prospective jurors.

Question 37

Who tends to be most influential during jury deliberations?

A)Males
B)Extraverts
C)Relatively tall people
D)All of these are correct.

Question 38

The idea that jurors who are demographically or socially similar to a litigant will be predisposed to favor that litigant is referred to as the

A)favoritism-approach hypothesis.
B)similarity-leniency hypothesis.
C)resemblance-compassion hypothesis.
D)demographic-similarity hypothesis.

Question 39

The Supreme Court has held that it is forbidden to exercise peremptory challenges solely on the basis of a juror's

A)race and gender.
B)gender and religion.
C)religion only.
D)Only A and C

Question 40

Kermit is a prospective juror who is currently undergoing voir dire . The defense attorney asks him, "What experiences have you had in your life that caused you to believe that a person was being discriminated against because of the color of his skin?" What kind of question is this?

A)A closed-ended question
B)An open-ended question
C)A restricted question
D)A fixed alternative question

Question 41

Claire is a prospective juror in a case in which there has been a lot of pre-trial publicity. Claire maintains that despite the fact that she has heard of the defendant and is aware of some of the negative publicity, she will be impartial. Should Claire be believed and chosen as a juror?

A)Yes, people generally have the ability to assess whether or not they can be impartial.
B)Yes, even if she is aware of the pre-trial publicity, she probably wasn't affected by it.
C)No, people do not always recognize the extent of their biases or they may not be willing to admit to them.
D)Both A and B

Question 42

Researchers have found that it is possible for mock jurors to be influenced by issues that are not specifically related to a particular case but are thematically relevant. Researchers call this

A)general prejudice.
B)preexisting prejudice.
C)generic prejudice.
D)preformed opinions.

Question 43

What is the relationship between demographic variables and verdicts?

A)The relationship between demographic variables and verdicts, if present at all, tends to be strong and consistent.
B)There does tend to be a relationship between gender and trials involving sexual harassment.
C)There isn't any relationship between gender and trials involving domestic violence.
D)All of these are correct.

Question 44

Pretrial publicity reflects a clash between the _______________________ Amendments.

A)Second and Sixth
B)First and Sixth
C)Fourth and Fifth
D)Fifth and Sixth

Question 45

Jurors who display authoritarian beliefs

A)are more likely to convict in mock jury experiments.
B)are more likely to endorse aggravating factors in capital trials.
C)are more likely to sentence a defendant to death.
D)All of these are correct.

Question 46

A mother is on trial for murdering her baby. Those who are authoritarian are more likely to

A)be rejected during voir dire .
B)vote for conviction.
C)vote for acquittal.
D)render a not guilty verdict.

Question 47

The attorneys using a fallacious reasoning or neutral sounding explanation in order to justify questionable behavior is

A)social desirability.
B)social judgment.
C)casuistry.
D)implicit personality.

Question 48

When Nietzel and Dillehay (1986)evaluated the effectiveness of the defense's use of jury consultants in 31 death penalty cases, they found that

A)juries recommended the death penalty in 92% of the trials in which consultants were not used by the defense versus 62% in trials with defense jury consultants.
B)juries recommended the death penalty in 61% of the trials in which consultants were not used by the defense versus 33% in trials with defense jury consultants.
C)the percentage that recommended the death penalty was essentially the same (25-28%)in trials that used and did not use jury consultants.
D)the use of defense jury consultants increased death penalty recommendations.

Question 49

Which of the following methods do jury consultants use?

A)Conducting public opinion surveys
B)Conducting focus groups
C)Conducting mock trials
D)All of these are correct.

Question 50

Which of the following is not listed as a possible safeguard against the effects of pre-trial publicity?

A)Postpone the trial to reduce the effects of prejudicial information.
B)Change the name of the defendant, leading jurors to believe they are not hearing the publicized case.
C)Conduct an expanded voir dire , in which each juror is questioned extensively and individually.
D)Change the venue.

Question 51

Researchers have considered the relationship between juror socioeconomic status and juror behavior and have found that well-off jurors tended to be

A)harsh.
B)lenient.
C)seen as more influential.
D)Both A and C

Question 52

Overall, available research suggests jurors exposed to pre-trial publicity are __________________ to favor the ____________________.

A)more likely; prosecution
B)more likely; defense
C)just as likely; prosecution as the defense
D)less likely; prosecution

Question 53

Research by Horowitz (1980)comparing the "scientific" method of jury selection with the conventional method found that overall

A)the scientific method was consistently superior.
B)the conventional method was consistently superior.
C)neither was superior to the other for every type of trial.
D)the traditional method was more effective only in those trials in which there were explicit relationships between personality and demographic variables and juror's votes.

Question 54

Jurors who believe that they are responsible for determining their outcomes in life are more likely to

A)assume the defendant was responsible for his or her actions too.
B)find the defendant not guilty.
C)be persuaded by other jurors.
D)take a more active role in the jury deliberation room.

Question 55

Researchers conducting experiments investigating the effects of pre-trial publicity have generally found that pre-trial publicity

A)can affect jurors' evaluations of the defendant's character.
B)can affect jurors' pre-trial thoughts about the defendant's guilt.
C)can affect jurors' final verdicts.
D)All of these are correct.

Question 56

What is the current status of the rights of the press to be present in the courtroom?

A)The press are currently not allowed to be present during criminal trials.
B)The press cannot be excluded from any court proceedings.
C)The press may not be excluded from actual trials, but they may be excluded from pre-trial hearings.
D)The press may not be excluded from pre-trial hearings, but they may be excluded from actual trials.

Question 57

George is a prospective juror who believes that an African American defendant is more likely to be guilty of a crime than a White defendant. This preexisting belief that George has is considered to be

A)general prejudice.
B)preexisting prejudice.
C)generic prejudice.
D)preformed opinions.

Question 58

Researchers who have conducted field studies of the effects of naturally occurring publicity have found that those exposed to pre-trial publicity

A)have more knowledge about the event.
B)are more likely to be confused about the case.
C)are more knowledgeable of other jurors' perspective.
D)All of these are correct.

Question 59

Kennard and colleagues demonstrated the powerful pull of expectations by conducting mock voir dires in which

A)jurors peremptorily excused by prosecutors were not biased against the prosecution.
B)jurors peremptorily excused by the defense were not biased against the defense.
C)those selected for jury duty were similar in attitude (i.e., pro-prosecution/pro-defense)to 12 jurors selected at random.
D)All of these are correct.

Question 60

A person who advocates punishment for those who violate established norms, who strictly adheres to conventional values, and who identifies with powerful figures would

A)be considered external in locus of control.
B)be considered someone who believes in a just world.
C)score high on a measure of authoritarianism.
D)favor the defense when responding to the Juror Bias Scale.

Question 61

The jury that acquitted the police officers of assault in the beating of Rodney King was seen as problematic because _______.

A)it contained no Black jurors
B)it contained jurors with low language proficiency
C)several of its members were not registered to vote
D)several of its members ignored the jury summons

Question 62

Which of the following are supported by the groundbreaking extensive survey by Harry Kalven and Hans Zeisel who compared trial outcomes of judges and juries?

A)In criminal trials, the judges reported that their verdict would have been unlike the jury's actual verdict in 75% of the cases.
B)The level of agreement between the jury and the judge was also low in civil trial.
C)Judges reported that their verdict would have favored the side favored by the jury in 78% of the civil suits.
D)Among the 25% of the criminal cases in which there was disagreement, nearly half resulted in hung juries.

Question 63

Which of the following remedies for the effects of pre-trial publicity is likely the most effective and thus preferred by most social scientists?

A)Continuance
B)Expanded voir dire
C)Judicial instructions
D)Change of venue

Question 64

Name the case in which the Court held that a White defendant could also complain about the exclusion of Blacks because the principle of representativeness was violated by the arbitrary exclusion of any racial group.

A)Batson v. Kentucky, 1986
B)Purkett v. Elem, 1995
C)Foster v. Chatman , 2016
D)Powers v. Ohio, 1991

Question 65

Which of the following is true of a bench trial?

A)The verdict is decided by a judge.
B)The verdict is decided by a jury.
C)The opposing party is obliged to be part of it.
D)The jury is obliged to agree with the judge.

Question 66

If the judge grants a continuance,

A)voir dire is expanded.
B)the trial is postponed with the expectation that the delay will lessen the effects of pre-trial publicity.
C)the trial is suspended as long as the defendant stays out of trouble.
D)None of these are correct.

Question 67

Which of the following plans did the judge in Bill Cosby's 2017 sexual assault trial undertake?

A)Conducting a thorough voir dire of potential jurors in order to identify and dismiss those with a reputation for sexual misconduct
B)Conducting a thorough voir dire of potential jurors in order to identify and dismiss those who have previously experienced sexual harassment
C)Changing the venue to a nearby jurisdiction under the assumption that they are less likely to be influenced by local publicity
D)Importing jurors from a nearby jurisdiction under the assumption that they are less likely to be influenced by local publicity

Question 68

In making jury selection decisions, Attorney X is known to use a peremptory strike against any male prospect sporting long hair while Attorney Y uses it to strike against any prospect who is a blue-collar worker. Their means of selection illustrates the _______.

A)social desirability effect
B)black sheep effect
C)"one-juror verdict" theory
D)implicit personality theory

Question 69

The composition of the jury is more important to jury verdicts than evidence.

Question 70

In a jury trial, like the litigant himself, most of the jurors lean toward Liberal politics and are mostly of mixed race. Thus, the jury may be assumed to be predisposed to favor the litigant, a belief known as the ______.

A)evaluation apprehension
B)similarity-leniency hypothesis
C)the black sheep effect
D)implicit biases

Question 71

Which of the following can cause a clash between the First Amendment and the Sixth Amendment?

A)The press publishing for public consumption information that threatens a defendant's right to a trial by impartial jurors
B)The court allowing the attorney to begin to indoctrinate prospective jurors and influence those who ultimately will make up the jury
C)People not admitting (even to themselves)that social category information such as race influences their decisions
D)Attorneys regarding jurors of higher status as more influential because of what others believe about their competence

Question 72

Beliefs borne of experiences and attitudes that predispose us to think in a certain way and of which we are unaware are termed ______.

A)evaluation apprehension
B)jury sentiments
C)implicit biases
D)selection effects

Question 73

Judge Ferdinand is known to have an authoritarian personality; he would thus tend to ______.

A)introduce and argue for unorthodox values
B)identify with and submit to powerful figures
C)place more emphasis on civil liberties
D)tend to be punitive toward those who support norms

Question 74

Wilkerson's defense attorney believes that the prosecution's peremptory challenge is motivated by racial factors. The attorney may initiate a so-called ______ challenge, so that the judge may then ask the ______ for an explanation.

A)Powers; prosecutor
B)Powers; defendant
C)Batson; prosecutor
D)Batson; defendant

Question 75

In a trial, each side may also exclude a designated number of prospective jurors "without a reason stated, without inquiry, and without being subject to the court's control" ( Swain v. Alabama , 1965). This procedure is known as _______.

A)a case of casuistry
B)a peremptory challenge
C)scientific jury selection
D)source monitoring

Question 76

When researchers Rose, Ellison, and Diamond asked approximately 1,500 Texas residents whether they would favor a bench trial or a jury trial, African Americans and Hispanics showed _______.

A)no support for a jury trial
B)no support for a bench trial
C)less support for a bench trial than Whites
D)less support for a jury trial than Whites

Question 77

In the case of J. E. B. v. Alabama ex rel. T. B. , the plaintiff used peremptory challenges to systematically exclude from the jury ______.

A)some Black men
B)all women
C)all men
D)some White women

Question 78

Which of the following is the most common method used by the courts to control for pre-trial publicity?

A)Postpone the trial
B)Expanded voir dire
C)Change of venue
D)Import jurors

Question 79

The most extreme remedy for pre-trial publicity effects is

A)a continuance.
B)expanded voir dire .
C)a change of venue.
D)None of these are correct.

Question 80

What term covers situations in which, in the judge's view, the jury's verdict was detrimentally affected by factors beyond the evidence and the law?

A)Evaluation apprehension
B)Jury sentiments
C)Implicit biases
D)Selection effects