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When the defendant in a trial chooses not to testify, the

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imhimanshu
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When the defendant in a trial chooses not to testify, the [#permalink] New post   21 Jun 2012, 06:57
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Please pour your thoughts on the below one-

When the defendant in a trial chooses not to testify, the jury is not supposed to view this as evidence of the defendant's guilt or innocence. Rather, the jury should base its decision on the evidence that is presented throughout the trial. Nevertheless, jurors will often take the failure of a defendant to testify as evidence of that defendant's guilt.

Which of the following can be most properly inferred.

A) Most defendants who refuse to testify in their trials are in fact guilty.

B) The rules should be modified to require defendants to testify regardless of their guilt or innocence.

C) The fact that a defendant refuses to testify is sometimes unfairly considered by a jury.

D) A defendant would sometimes be better served by testifying at trial than by choosing not to testify.

E) Even when a defendant does testify, some jurors not to believe the defendants testimony
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C
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Re: Defendant Trial - CR [#permalink] New post   21 Jun 2012, 12:38
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Seems like C.

A: This cannot be inferred and is a generalization. Incorrect.
B: We are not discussing what the rules ought to be here. Incorrect.
C: Correct. The jury sometimes tends to (unfairly) take lack of testimony by the defendant as guilt.
D: We cannot say this. It may turn out that the jury is more unfavorably impressed by the defendant's testimony than favorably impressed by the fact that he/she testified. Incorrect.
E: There is no evidence to believe this happens at all. Incorrect.
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Re: Defendant Trial - CR [#permalink] New post   21 Jun 2012, 21:32
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imhimanshu wrote:
Please pour your thoughts on the below one-

When the defendant in a trial chooses not to testify, the jury is not supposed to view this as evidence of the defendant's guilt or innocence. Rather, the jury should base its decision on the evidence that is presented throughout the trial. Nevertheless, jurors will often take the failure of a defendant to testify as evidence of that defendant's guilt.

Which of the following can be most properly inferred.

A) Most defendants who refuse to testify in their trials are in fact guilty.

B) The rules should be modified to require defendants to testify regardless of their guilt or innocence.

C) The fact that a defendant refuses to testify is sometimes unfairly considered by a jury.

D) A defendant would sometimes be better served by testifying at trial than by choosing not to testify.

E) Even when a defendant does testify, some jurors not to believe the defendants testimony


Responding to a pm:

It is a conclusion question. You have to choose the option that provides you with the inference that you can draw from the given premises. The premises tell us that the jury is not supposed to consider refusal to testify admission of guilt, but it does. This is what option (C) says and hence, it is most appropriate. It is the conclusion of our stimulus.
As for option (D), I wouldn't say it is incorrect but we are inferring too much in it. It is not the answer (and as you mentioned, you chose C as well). The reason is that you have to look for the "best" option. The question says "which can be most properly inferred?"
Your answer would be the one which gives you the most direct inference.

e.g.
A and B are best friends and usually sit together in class. Today they are sitting far away from each other. What can you infer from this?

1. A and B are not sitting together today
2. A and B fought today.

I hope you see that the direct inference is 1 and not 2.
It's the same case in this question.
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Re: Defendant Trial - CR [#permalink] New post   22 Jun 2012, 10:34
Great example indirectly lead to the nice explanation. Thank for all of your help, Karishma.
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Re: Defendant Trial - CR [#permalink] New post   22 Jun 2012, 12:03
My choice is C..btw nice explanation Karishma.
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Re: When the defendant in a trial chooses not to testify, the [#permalink] New post   13 Oct 2018, 07:55
Veritas Prep Official Solution:

This is an inference question. The correct answer must be true. From the stimulus we know that the jury is not supposed to consider the fact that a defendant does not testify as evidence of guilt or innocence. And yet, jurors do take the refusal to testify as evidence of guilt. This means that choice C must be true, the fact that a defendant refuses to testify is unfairly seen by some jurors as evidence of guilt.

Choice A could be false, there is no indication of whether those who refuse to testify are guilty. Choice B indicates what “should” happen. This is a recommendation and is not something that must be true, even if it does seem logical. Choice D could be true, a defendant might be better served by testifying, but it could be false as well. This is a prediction and it is very difficult for a prediction to be must be true. Choice E seems very plausible. Jurors are not supposed to take a defendant’s not testifying into account. It is logical to think that at least some jurors would follow this rule. However, it is not clear that this is the case. This does not reach the standard of must be true. The stimulus still allows the possibility that every juror takes the fact of not testifying into account.
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Re: When the defendant in a trial chooses not to testify, the [#permalink] New post   13 Oct 2018, 11:11
This question is similar in form and logic to this one.

https://gmatclub.com/forum/when-a-polyg ... -76590.htm
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Re: When the defendant in a trial chooses not to testify, the [#permalink] New post   18 Oct 2023, 02:48
Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

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Re: When the defendant in a trial chooses not to testify, the [#permalink]
18 Oct 2023, 02:48
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