Q22

[rawatnaman]

Hi,

Could anyone explain, why D is the right answer ? I had it down to D and E. But couldn't find evidence for either one of them.

The author mentions Judges in the last para but from what I could comprehend. It does acknowledge that the Judges could use improve standards by which they currently measure Jury errors but it cannot be implied that the Judges are not able to pick Jury errors because of lack of training.

Also, I cannot comprehend what the last line " it ignores the research and conclusions of psychologists in favor of notions about human cognition held by lawyers. " is trying to say ? Is it simply saying that Judges ignore the psychologists research in favor of the ongoing notions prevailing among the lawyers. ?

Thanks in Advance.

[rinagoldfield]

Thanks for your post!

The author doesn’t prescribe any remedies for the issue of jury inferential errors, so we do have to make a leap here.

In the final paragraph, the author states, “one of a presiding judge’s duties is to minimize jury inferential error through explanation and clarification. Nonetheless, most judges now employ only a limited and primitive concept of jury inferential error...” (lines 51-56)

Here, the author implies that the judge’s attempts to minimize error are not intrinsically bad, but are limited by the judges’ lack of knowledge. (D) is thus supported.

(E) is not supported. Psychological research defined inferential error, which the author thinks is worth thinking/writing about. The author does not see psychological research as a bad thing in need of restriction.

(A) is pretty far off the mark. The author makes no claims against jury trials in general.

(B) is out of scope. Education is never mentioned as an issue.

(C) is in scope, but ultimately unsupported. The author suggests that jury inferential errors arise from juries extrapolating from information presented at trial. He does not suggest that the information itself causes the problem.