Jury Impartiality

Answer choices

1. A

   Correct69% picked this

   deliberate only on what they learn in a trial and not on what

   Why this is right

   This seems like the best available match for what we're looking for: ignore information learned outside the courtroom when thinking/deliberating about a case. "Outside the courtroom" is the same here as "what they knew beforehand". They should ignore stuff they've learned outside the courtroom and deliberate only on what they learn in a trial.

   Skill tested: Meaning in Context · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

   69%
2. B

   Distinguish vs. Ignore3% picked this

   distinguish between pretrial speculation and the actual facts of

   This might be temptingly similar to what we're looking for: ignore information learned outside the courtroom when thinking/deliberating about a case. We might think of "outside the courtroom" as being a decent match for "pretrial speculation". We might think of "inside the courtroom" being the actual facts of a case. In that case, "mental contortions" refers to the critics' belief that jurors cannot be expected to ignore pretrial speculation and attend only to the actual facts of the case. There are two issues there 1. "Being able to distinguish between stuff we learned from X and stuff we learned from Y" is not the same thing as "ignoring stuff we learned from X and thinking only about what we learned from Y". In order to ignore X, you'd have to distinguish X from Y, but critics aren't skeptical that we can distinguish the two. They're skeptical that we can ignore X. 2. this answer is referring to the "outside courtroom" stuff as "pretrial speculation", whereas the passage was talking about "learning information" outside the courtroom. It wasn't saying that what jurors were getting out of the courtroom was rumor or innuendo or speculation. They were just saying it was inadmissible to the trial, if it wasn't actually presented during the trial.

   3%
3. C

   Bad Match: no opinion14% picked this

   hear about a case before trial without forming an opinion

   This does not match what we're looking for: when thinking / deliberating about a case, ignore information learned outside the courtroom "ignoring information" is not the same thing as "not-forming an opinion". This answer also refers to the pre-trial phase, whereas the mental contortions referred to the actual trial phase.

   14%
4. D

   Bad Match: identify degree3% picked this

   identify accurately the degree of prior knowledge they may possess about

   This does not match what we're looking for: when thinking / deliberating about a case, ignore information learned outside the courtroom "accurately self-assessing your prior knowledge" is not the same thing as "ignore / suppress information learned outside the courtroom".

   3%
5. E

   Bad Match: avoid widespread publicity11% picked this

   protect themselves from widely disseminated pretrial

   This does not match what we're looking for: when thinking / deliberating about a case, ignore information learned outside the courtroom "avoiding widespread pretrial publicity" does not mean the same thing as same thing as "ignore / suppress information learned outside the courtroom". If some one avoids widespread publicity, they'll remove one source of information they could learn outside the courtroom. But they could still learn about the case from speaking to people familiar with it or by exposing themselves to moderately disseminated pretrial publicity. The critics are saying that people will have a hard time ignoring the totality of stuff they've learned outside the courtroom (potentially from a myriad of sources).

   11%