The jury trial is one of the handful of democratic institutions that

Question

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 
 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 
 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 
 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 
 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 
 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 
 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 
 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.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

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

Explanation

In critically reading the passage, we identified the first sentence of  paragraph 2  as a summary of the Main Idea.  Choice (E)  uses most of the same wording, and expresses the same idea—jury unanimity provides benefits that outweigh its cost, so it should remain a requirement in important trials.

(A)  focuses too much on the rarity of jury trials, and does not address why they are important.

(B)  introduces  “irresponsible”  jurors, a concept not contained in the passage.

While  (C)  is a point made by the author, it leaves out the important idea that the benefits of jury unanimity outweigh the objections cited by critics. T

he author seems to believe that jurors are already doing what they are supposed to do  (31-33) , so  (D)  is also off base.

Answer: E

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

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

Explanation

We’ll need to quickly consult our roadmap to remember what’s covered in  paragraph 3.  The author writes that some innocent people are already convicted and that eliminating the unanimity requirement would only make this more likely. He further writes that dismissing the opinion of a dissenting reviewer would eliminate an important component in the deliberation process. It’s clear, then, that the author believes the requirement is extremely important to prevent unjust verdicts, and that it’s worth using strong methods to do so  (A).

Although  (B)  discusses fairness, it places responsibility on the judge, rather than the jury.

(C)  is too strong in predicting the complete elimination of unjust verdicts, and  (D)  safeguards against irresponsible jurists, a topic unmentioned in the passage.

(E)  states that the jury system is “inherently flawed,” which, although perhaps true, is not an underlying principle of the third paragraph of this passage.

Answer: A

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

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

Explanation

Paragraph 3  lists three reasons why jury unanimity is important for individual trials and society in general. There’s no point in trying to paraphrase here, so move on to the answer choices.  (C)  sums up the thinking in the paragraph by stressing the importance of each juror, and makes a more general point by comparing the jury system to democracy in general. This emphasizes the importance of jury unanimity and closes the passage with an uplifting rhetorical tone.

(A)  discusses a  “separate tradition,”  but there is nothing in the passage that would support this distinction.

(B)  and  (E)  go pretty far off base by introducing the new topics of public debate and scientific prosecution methods. The last sentence of the passage is not a good place to introduce entirely new ideas! Although the author has been arguing against the critics of jury unanimity, there’s no indication that he regards such criticism as undermining  “the integrity of the entire legal system” (D).

Answer: C

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?

Explanation

Consult your road map to find the place where the author discusses the cost of dismissing the opinion of a juror. It’s at the end of  paragraph 3, lines 51-54: “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.”  This matches up very well with  (C).

Although the author does state that juries are usually hung in only the closest cases, he never explicitly states that only the closest cases would be affected by ignoring dissenters  (A).

(B)  presents the new and irrelevant topic of juries’ respect towards one another.

(D)  and  (E)  both incorrectly imply that the author feels deadlocked juries represent a flaw in the legal system when he actually believes they are a necessary and important component.

Answer: C

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

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

Explanation

A quick glance tells us that most of the answer choices deal with the author’s attitude towards hung juries. Answer  choice (D)  is a nice summation of the author’s views on this topic since he certainly believes that  “hung juries are acceptable,”  and also believes that they usually occur when neither party has made a sufficiently compelling case.

We’ve already noted that the author feels hung juries occur when neither side has a sufficiently compelling case, so it wouldn’t be right to say that  “an error in judgment” (A)  is indicated. Since the passage only addresses the topic of jury unanimity, the justice system in general  (B) , or even the entire jury system  (C) , are both too broad for us to infer the author’s views.

(E)  is the opposite answer choice since the author believes doing away with jury unanimity (and therefore having fewer hung juries) would prevent the fair hearing of all jurors’ opinions.

Answer: D

VerbalBot · Answer

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The jury trial is one of the handful of democratic institutions that

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