Deck 10: Ethical Misconduct in the Courts and Responses

Question 1

Operation Greylord took place in the 1980s and involved:

A) prosecutorial misconduct
B) judicial misconduct
C) treatment staff misconduct
D) correctional misconduct

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Believing one's original theory of the case despite evidence to the contrary is called:

A) cognitive dissonance
B) belief perseverance
C) selective information processing
D) confirmatory bias

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which of the following states executes the most people?

A) Utah
B) Florida
C) Arizona
D) Texas

Answer 3

D

Question 4

In 2000,the Cincinnati Inquirer published the results of an investigation where they found 14 cases where:

A) prosecutors had used various forms of misconduct in capital cases
B) judges had misused their powers and misguided the jury
C) defense attorneys were wrongfully held in contempt of court
D) guilty individuals were knowingly acquitted

Question 5

The reasons for false convictions discussed in your text include all except:

A) perjury by informants
B) "junk science"
C) false confessions
D) gender bias

Question 6

According to the text,disciplinary committees investigate a practicing attorney:

A) only when a complaint is lodged against him or her
B) on a regularly basis, usually every fiscal year
C) every time they need to renew their license to practice
D) only when it involves a capital case

Question 7

Which of the following is not considered prosecutorial misconduct?

A) ex parte communication with a judge
B) communicating with defendant without counsel present
C) failure to disclose evidence
D) speaking to the media about whether or not an indictment has been returned

Question 8

The current source for evaluating attorney misconduct is the?

A) The Model Code of Professional Responsibility
B) The Moral Code of Professional Responsibility
C) The Professional Code of Ethics for Lawyers
D) The Model Rules of Professional Responsibility

Question 9

In a 2006 Gallup Poll that rated the level of trust in the integrity of attorneys:

A) about two-thirds of participants rated attorneys as "high" or "very high"
B) about 20 percent of participants rated attorneys as "high" or "very high"
C) about half of participants rated attorneys as "high" or "very high"
D) less than 5 percent of participants rated attorneys as "high" or "very high"

Question 10

Only recognizing evidence to fit one's theory is the definition of:

A) cognitive dissonance
B) belief perseverance
C) selective information processing
D) confirmatory bias

Question 11

In terms of prosecutorial misconduct,Aronson and McMurtrie discussed the presence of all of the following elements except:

A) cognitive dissonance
B) belief perseverance
C) selective information processing
D) emotional concord

Question 12

Kirchmeier and colleagues discuss four types of prosecutorial misconduct,which of the following is not one of these four types?

A) withholding exculpatory evidence
B) misusing pretrial publicity
C) resigning from a difficult case
D) using false evidence in court

Question 13

According to the text,which of the following statements about judicial misconduct is false?

A) Public exposes of judicial misconduct are fairly rare.
B) There is a concern that judges and lawyers play to the camera when these are permitted in court.
C) In general, judges who are more concerned with their public image than maintaining the judicial integrity of their office may make biased decisions.
D) Judicial misconduct is more likely to take place in criminal rather than civil cases.

Question 14

The human tendency to seek to confirm rather than disconfirm is called:

A) cognitive dissonance
B) belief perseverance
C) selective information processing
D) confirmatory bias

Question 15

According to the text,the most common charge leveled against prosecutors is:

A) misusing pretrial publicity
B) failure to disclose evidence
C) supporting perjury
D) using false evidence in court

Question 16

Confirmatory bias refers to:

A) when a specific suspect has been fixated upon and other possibilities are ignored
B) when it is confirmed that the prosecution is biased against the suspect
C) when a confirmation of racial bias is pending
D) none of these describe the concept

Question 17

Between 1993 and 2002,what was the number of death row inmates exonerated of their crimes?

A) 50
B) 150
C) 90
D) 30

Question 18

Aronson and McMurtrie identified prosecutorial misconduct as "tunnel vision," arguing that:

A) an innocent suspect will always be considered guilty by the judge
B) truly innocent, law-abiding citizens do not get prosecuted
C) prosecutors work under a bias that defendants are guilty, therefore they ignore exculpatory evidence
D) prosecutors generally have a quota that they must fulfill

Question 19

Which of the following is not a criticism of how the Bar handles complaints of ethical violations?

A) Very few sanctions result from investigations.
B) The investigative bodies are secretive and informal.
C) Lawyers can easily pay a fine to have the charges dismissed without an investigation.
D) Charges of incompetence are rarely investigated.

Question 20

In Hamdan v.Rumsfeld,the U.S.Supreme Court held that detainees in Guantanamo:

A) did not deserve some due process and the military commissions created at the time were not sufficient.
B) did not deserve some due process and that the military commissions created at the time were sufficient.
C) deserved some due process and that the military commissions created at the time were not sufficient.
D) deserved some due process and that the military commissions created at the time were sufficient.

Question 21

The view that an individual has not rights unless these rights are specified in the Constitution or have been created by some other legal source is referred to as the:

A) the strict constructionist philosophy regarding the application of constitutional principles
B) the interpretationist philosophy regarding the application of constitutional principles
C) the activists philosophy regarding the application of constitutional principles
D) the federalist philosophy regarding the application of constitutional principles

Question 22

Strict constructionists believe that new rights should be created by the political process.

Question 23

Interpretationists argue that the Constitution:

A) should be implemented as written
B) should be abolished altogether
C) is meant to be a living document
D) is meant to be all-inclusive

Question 24

It is called confirmatory bias when a judge decides a case ahead of time.

Question 25

Interpretationists are also called:

A) Constructionists
B) Activists
C) Pacifists
D) Federalists

Question 26

Strict constructionists argue that the Constitution:

A) should be implemented as written
B) should be abolished altogether
C) is meant to be a living document
D) is meant to be all-inclusive

Question 27

One of the most cited reasons for false convictions is ineffective counsel.

Question 28

Strict constructionists believe that rights only exist if they are specifically enumerated in the Constitution.

Question 29

According to the Gallup poll,about a third of blacks believed that O.J.Simpson was not guilty.

Question 30

According to the text,those freedoms and protections that the framers of the Constitution would have recognized if they had been asked are called:

A) "human rights"
B) "fundamental liberties"
C) "fundamental rights"
D) "human liberties"

Question 31

In ______________________,the Supreme Court ruled against a prosecutor who objected to misconduct occurring in the office where he worked.

A) Diaz v. Bush
B) Garcetti v. Ceballos
C) Purkett v. Elem
D) Batson v. Martinez

Question 32

A "Bracy motion" requests all evidence that is "likely to lead to a different outcome."

Question 33

In a study conducted by the Columbia Law School,nearly 10 percent of all death verdicts handed down between 1973 and 1995 were reversed because of serious errors.

Question 34

An approach to the Constitution that uses a looser reading of the document is called:

A) the strict constructionist philosophy regarding the application of constitutional principles
B) the interpretationist philosophy regarding the application of constitutional principles
C) the liberatarianist philosophy regarding the application of constitutional principles
D) the federalist philosophy regarding the application of constitutional principles

Question 35

Natural rights refer to the concept that:

A) one has certain obligations to nature
B) one has certain biological imperatives
C) one has certain rights just by virtue of being born
D) one has no rights, all rights belong the mother earth

Question 36

In ______________________,the Supreme Court ruled that defendants had no constitutional right to DNA evidence.

A) District Attorney v. Osborne
B) Garcetti v. Ceballos
C) Purkett v. Elem
D) Batson v. Martinez

Question 37

Operation Greylord was a judicial scandal in Chicago in which both attorneys and judges were convicted of bribery.

Question 38

There are two basic philosophies regarding how to apply constitutional principles:

A) the interpretationists and activists
B) the activists and federalists
C) the federalists and strict constructionists
D) the strict constructionists and the interpretationists

Question 39

The writers of the Bill of Rights were natural law theorists.

Question 40

Wrongful convictions are said to exist in about 20 percent of all cases.

Question 41

Discuss the seemingly contradictory ideal that to ensure the natural rights presented by natural law theorists there must be both less government involvement and more government involvement.

Question 42

The ______________________ scandal involved the bribery of several Chicago judges.

Question 43

The Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren,known as the _______________,was known for opinions that expanded civil liberties and protections.

Question 44

Where do rules of behavior for attorneys come from,and how are they enforced?

Question 45

The term ________________________ refers to a situation when a specific suspect has been fixated upon and therefore other possibilities are ignored.

Question 46

Discuss the number of innocents who may be imprisoned.What are the sources for the estimates? What are the criticisms of the sources?

Question 47

The _______________________________ refer to an affiliation of groups of lawyers in different locales who identify and defend those individuals in prison who may have been wrongfully convicted.

Question 48

A ____________________________ would utilize a looser reading of the Constitution and read into it rights that the framers might have recognized or that should be recognized due to "evolving standards."

Question 49

What are some of the reasons that people distrust the justice system?

Question 50

Which factors have been identified as contributing to false convictions?

Question 51

Describe the importance of judicial independence but,also,explain why judicial oversight is necessary.

Question 52

The idea that certain rights and morals are "natural," that is,not human created is called _____________________.

Question 53

The __________________________ believes that an individual has no rights unless they are specified in the constitution or are present in some other legal source.

Question 54

Describe judicial activism and constructionism.

Question 55

What is the evidence to indicate a pervasive pattern of racial bias in the system?

Question 56

Describe and discuss what polls show regarding the public's attitude toward attorneys.

Question 57

To ______________ is to excuse oneself from deciding a case because of real or the appearance of bias.

Question 58

Several of the authors of the Bill of Rights were ____________________ theorists.

Question 59

______________________________ are those freedoms that the framers would have recognized whether or not they were specifically mentioned in the Bill of Rights or Constitution.

Question 60

Explain the significance of the "Brady Motion" as it relates to prosecutors' misconduct.