PrepTest 153, Section 1, Question 20
Criminal courts frequently rely on accomplice witnesses (witnesses(444 more words not shown)
The author mentions the research(9 more words not shown)
- Areveal a potential(5 more words not shown)
- Bmake an unfavorable(9 more words not shown)
- Cjustify a conclusion(9 more words not shown)
- Dquestion the relevance(17 more words not shown)
- Econtrast the way(20 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
The research studies confessions given directly by defendants. Our larger topic is testimony from cooperating witnesses. Why bring in a study about a different source of evidence?
What we’re looking for
The author draws a connection: if jurors underestimate how incentives can affect a defendant's confession, they may also underestimate how incentives affect a cooperating witness. The research gives us a reason to worry that simply telling jurors about a benefit won't always solve the problem.
Working the answers
- A
The research supports the author's concern about testimony; it doesn't expose a weakness in the author's analysis.
- B
The author doesn't compare the quality of this research unfavorably with the earlier study. Both contribute reasons to worry about relying on bartered testimony.
- CCorrect
The finding about defendants supplies support for the inference about cooperating witnesses. Jurors may apply a similar mistaken assumption in both settings: that the testimony reflects guilt or remorse rather than a response to an incentive. The author proposes that connection; the research doesn't directly establish identical behavior in both settings.
- D
The discussion makes jury decision making relevant to the courts' reliance on these witnesses. If jurors mishandle incentives, the supposed safeguard is weaker. The author isn't questioning whether that decision-making process matters.
- E
The author extends a concern from one setting to the other. There is no contrast showing that jurors evaluate defendants' evidence one way and cooperating witnesses' evidence differently.
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