The jury trial is one of the handful of democratic
institutions that allow individual citizens, rather than
the government, to make important societal decisions.
A crucial component of the jury trial, at least in serious
(5) criminal cases, is the rule that verdicts be unanimous
among the jurors (usually twelve in number). Under
this requirement, dissenting jurors must either be
convinced of the rightness of the prevailing opinion, or,
conversely, persuade the other jurors to change their
(10) minds. In either instance, the unanimity requirement
compels the jury to deliberate fully and truly before
reaching its verdict. Critics of the unanimity
requirement, however, see it as a costly relic that
extends the deliberation process and sometimes, in a
(15) hung (i.e., deadlocked) jury, brings it to a halt at the
hands of a single, recalcitrant juror, forcing the judge to
order a retrial. Some of these critics recommend
reducing verdict requirements to something less than
unanimity, so that one or even two dissenting jurors
(20) will not be able to force a retrial.

But the material costs of hung juries do not warrant
losing the benefit to society of the unanimous verdict.
Statistically, jury trials are relatively rare; the vast
majority of defendants do not have the option of a jury
(25) trial or elect to have a trial without a jury⎯or they
plead guilty to the original or a reduced charge. And
the incidence of hung juries is only a small fraction of
the already small fraction of cases that receive a jury
trial. Furthermore, that juries occasionally deadlock
(30) does not demonstrate a flaw in the criminal justice
system, but rather suggests that jurors are
conscientiously doing the job they have been asked to
do. Hung juries usually occur when the case is very
close⎯that is, when neither side has presented
(35) completely convincing evidence⎯and although the
unanimity requirement may sometimes lead to
inconclusive outcomes, a hung jury is certainly
preferable to an unjust verdict.

Requiring unanimity provides a better chance that a
(40) trial, and thus a verdict, will be fair. Innocent people
are already occasionally convicted⎯perhaps in some
cases because jurors presume that anyone who has
been brought to trial is probably guilty⎯and
eliminating the unanimity requirement would only
(45) increase the opportunity for such mistakes.
Furthermore, if a juror’s dissenting opinion can easily
be dismissed, an important and necessary part of the
deliberation process will be lost, for effective
deliberation requires that each juror’s opinion be given
(50) a fair hearing. Only then can the verdict reached by the
jury be said to represent all of its members, and if even
one juror has doubts that are dismissed out of hand,
society’s confidence that a proper verdict has been
reached would be undermined.

1. Which one of the following most accurately states the main point of the passage?

(A) Because trials requiring juries are relative rare, the usefulness of the unanimity requirement does not need to be reexamined.
(B) The unanimity requirement should be maintained because most hung juries are caused by irresponsible jurors rather than by any flaws in the requirement.
(C) The problem of hung juries is not a result of flaws in the justice system but of the less than convincing evidence presented in some cases.
(D) The unanimity requirement should be maintained, but it is only effective if jurors conscientiously do the job they have been asked to do.
(E) Because its material costs are outweighed by what it contributes to the fairness of jury trials, the unanimity requirement should not be rescinded.


2. Which one of the following most accurately describes the author’s attitude toward the unanimity requirement?

(A) cursory appreciation
(B) neutral interest
(C) cautious endorsement
(D) firm support
(E) unreasoned reverence


3. Which one of the following principles can most clearly be said to underlie the author’s arguments in the third paragraph?

(A) The risk of unjust verdicts is serious enough to warrant strong measures to avoid it.
(B) Fairness in jury trials is crucial and so judges must be extremely thorough in order to ensure it.
(C) Careful adherence to the unanimity requirement will eventually eliminate unjust verdicts.
(D) Safeguards must be in place because not all citizens called to jury duty perform their role responsibly.
(E) The jury system is inherently flawed and therefore unfairness cannot be eliminated but only reduced.


4. Which one of the following sentences could most logically be added to the end of the last paragraph of the passage?

(A) It is not surprising, then, that the arguments presented by the critics of the unanimity requirement grow out of a separate tradition from that embodied in the unanimity requirement.
(B) Similarly, if there is a public debate concerning the unanimity requirement, public faith in the requirement will be strengthened.
(C) The opinion of each juror is as essential to the pursuit of justice as the universal vote is to the functioning of a true democracy.
(D) Unfortunately, because some lawmakers have characterized hung juries as intolerable, the integrity of the entire legal system has been undermined.
(E) But even without the unanimity requirement, fair trials and fair verdicts will occur more frequently as the methods of prosecutors and defense attorneys become more scientific.


5. Which one of the following could replace the term “recalcitrant” (line 16) without a substantial change in the meaning of the critics’ claim?

(A) obstinate
(B) suspicious
(C) careful
(D) conscientious
(E) naive


6. The author explicitly claims that which one of the following would be a result of allowing a juror’s dissenting opinion to be dismissed?

(A) Only verdicts in very close cases would be affected.
(B) The responsibility felt by jurors to be respectful to one another would be lessened.
(C) Society’s confidence in the fairness of the verdicts would be undermined.
(D) The problem of hung juries would not be solved but would surface less frequently.
(E) An important flaw thus would be removed from the criminal justice system.


7. It can be inferred from the passage that the author would be most likely to agree with which one of the following?

(A) Hung juries most often result from an error in judgment on the part of one juror.
(B) Aside from the material costs of hung juries, the criminal justice system has few flaws.
(C) The fact that jury trials are so rare renders any flaws in the jury system insignificant.
(D) Hung juries are acceptable and usually indicate that the criminal justice system is functioning properly.
(E) Hung juries most often occur when one juror’s opinion does not receive a fair hearing.