Deck 2: The Legal System: Issues, Structure, and Players

Question 1

Lester Zygmanik was charged with murdering his brother George after George was severely injured in a motorcycle accident. George did not want to live his life as a quadriplegic and asked Lester to kill him; Lester did as his brother asked. If you were a juror in this case and you were making decisions based on black-letter law, you would decide that Lester is

A)guilty.
B)not guilty.
C)not prepared to undergo a trial.
D)insane.

Answer 1

guilty.

Question 2

When citizens' concept of morality is inconsistent with the actual law, this may lead to

A)decreased compliance with the law.
B)citizens feeling alienated from authority.
C)increased contempt for the legal system.
D)All of these are correct.

Answer 2

All of these are correct.

Question 3

Darley and his colleagues investigated how people's general thoughts about punishment differed from that found in the Model Penal Code. They found that generally

A)people did not feel that the intent to commit a crime was the same as actually committing the crime.
B)when a person had taken only preliminary action toward committing a crime, few respondents thought the prospective perpetrator was guilty.
C)when a person had taken action described as reaching "the point of dangerous proximity to the crime," respondents thought that punishment should be less severe than that given to those who had completed the crime.
D)All of these are correct.

Answer 3

All of these are correct.

Question 4

According to Chapter 2, Thibaut and Walker found

A)that the adversarial system led to less biased decisions.
B)that the adversarial system led to decisions that were more likely to be perceived as fair by the litigants.
C)that both A and B are correct.
D)that neither of these is correct.

Question 5

How does the Model Penal Code assign punishment for crimes that were only attempted but were not completed?

A)Attempted crimes deserve a lesser penalty than completed crimes.
B)Those who only attempt, but do not complete a crime, do not deserve to be punished at all.
C)Those who attempt crimes deserve the same penalty as those who complete crimes.
D)None of these are correct (the Model Penal Code does not consider punishment).

Question 6

If individuals view the procedures of dispute resolution as fair, then they will see the outcome as just, regardless of whether the dispute was resolved in their favor or not. This perspective is referred to as

A)distributive justice.
B)commonsense justice.
C)fairness justice.
D)procedural justice.

Question 7

The adversarial model has been criticized for promoting a competitive atmosphere that can distort the truth. What is the argument here?

A)Jurors must choose between two versions of truth unknowingly as the witnesses often shade their testimony to favor their side.
B)Skillful lawyers can effectively impugn the credibility of hostile witnesses.
C)Criminal defendants rarely testify despite being the most important source of information about the events in question.
D)All of these are correct.

Question 8

Which of the following U.S. states legally allows physician-assisted suicide?

A)Colorado
B)Oregon
C)Texas
D)New Jersey

Question 9

In Lester Zygmanik trial, the juror's judgment was based on

A)Lester's grief, love, and selflessness toward his brother.
B)black-letter law.
C)the forensic psychologist's report.
D)None of these are correct.

Question 10

Lester Zygmanik, who admitted to shooting his brother in the head and killing him,

A)was found guilty of first-degree murder.
B)was found guilty of second-degree murder.
C)was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
D)was found not guilty.

Question 11

Euthanasia, or mercy killings and physician-assisted suicide, highlights the conflict between

A)legality and morality.
B)individual rights and public good.
C)criminal law and professional ethics codes.
D)None of these are correct.

Question 12

Beth and Joanne are jurors for a case in which the defendant has been charged with robbery. Beth has a tendency to make internal, stable, and global attributions. Joanne has a tendency to make external, unstable, and specific attributions. Given this information, what are Beth and Joanne's likely ideas about defendant responsibility?

A)Beth will tend to see the offender as less responsible for his crime than Joanne.
B)Beth will tend to see the offender as more responsible for his crime than Joanne.
C)Beth and Joanne will tend to see the offender as equally responsible.
D)None of these are correct.

Question 13

Which of the following is a characteristic of the inquisitorial approach to justice?

A)An intensely competitive atmosphere
B)Separate witnesses for each side
C)The presiding judge questions witnesses
D)Opposing parties prepare the witnesses before the trial

Question 14

Individuals will perceive a decision-making process as fair if they

A)believe they have a voice in the process.
B)are treated with respect during the process.
C)believe authorities in the process are motivated by fairness.
D)All of these are correct.

Question 15

American legal procedures involve a(n)____________ system of justice.

A)inquisitorial
B)disruptive
C)adversarial
D)impractical

Question 16

For almost two weeks, Anju has been negotiating her salary for her new job in market research. While her new manager could not provide as much pay as Anju wants, she made up for it in benefits (e.g., Anju received extra vacation time). Anju is very pleased with the way the salary issues were resolved. One could consider this salary dispute in terms of distributive justice, for it focuses on the

A)amount of time spent negotiating.
B)type of position Anju is about to take.
C)procedure of the dispute resolution.
D)fairness of the outcome.

Question 17

In which approach to trials does the research indicate that attorneys apparently try harder (especially when the weight of evidence favors the opponent)?

A)Inquisitorial approach
B)Adversarial approach
C)Neither A nor B
D)Both A and B

Question 18

You are witnessing a trial. The judge is doing most of the questioning of witnesses, rather than the lawyers. In fact, the court-not the lawyers-has chosen which witnesses will testify. Where are you?

A)Louisiana
B)England
C)A federal court in the United States (rather than a state court)
D)France

Question 19

When making inferences about what caused another person to commit a crime, we tend to attribute the cause to

A)external, stable, and global factors.
B)internal, unstable, and global factors.
C)internal, stable, and global factors.
D)external, unstable, and global factors.

Question 20

Diane has been in a dispute with an insurance company over an accident claim. She has called the insurance company every day and their staff has been very willing to hear her point of view. She has been pleased with how she has been treated during this process. Ultimately, her case went through the court system, and although the decision was not in her favor, Diane saw the decision-making process as a fair one. Which justice perspective would have predicted Diane's attitude about this process?

A)Distributive justice
B)Commonsense justice
C)Fairness justice
D)Procedural justice

Question 21

State cases will come under the jurisdiction of the federal courts

A)if the plaintiff and defendant in the case are from different states.
B)if the plaintiff and defendant are from the same state but choose to have their case heard in a federal court.
C)when the federal courts choose certain cases to hear at their discretion.
D)None of these are correct.

Question 22

Jury nullification refers to

A)excluding certain persons from a jury because of their personal beliefs.
B)choosing a bench trial (or trial by judge)over a jury trial.
C)commonsense justice in which a jury refuses to convict a defendant who is legally guilty of the crime charged.
D)None of these are correct.

Question 23

The researchers exposed 500 judges to a hypothetical case involving illegal immigration, to demonstrate

A)the influence of political clout.
B)the effect of emotions on judicial decisions.
C)the effect of facts, evidence, and legal rules.
D)None of these are correct.

Question 24

How many federal courts of appeal are there?

A)1
B)7
C)13
D)20

Question 25

Raising a federal question refers to

A)a published court opinion.
B)a request that all judges from the pertinent Court of Appeals sit in on a case.
C)the authority to review state court decisions that involve constitutional or federal law issues.
D)questions allowed in oral arguments.

Question 26

Appellate judges must

A)assess the credibility of certain witnesses.
B)decide if the law was properly applied in a previous decision.
C)render a verdict.
D)Both B and C.

Question 27

In Gideon v. Wainwright (1963), the Supreme Court ruled that

A)Gideon should be released as his confession was coerced.
B)Gideon had the right to be represented by an attorney, even if he could not afford one.
C)the evidence admitted at his trial was obtained through an illegal search and seizure.
D)None of these are correct.

Question 28

Like state courts, the opinions of the federal courts are published in bound volumes called Reporters after

A)the opinion is dismissed by the state court.
B)only one of the judges writes the opinion without the consent of the co-judges.
C)a panel of jurors votes for the majority needed.
D)all of the judges on the relevant court of appeals sit in on the case.

Question 29

Problem-solving courts such as veterans' courts, drug courts, and mental health courts could all be considered forms of

A)specialty courts.
B)alternative courts.
C)critical legal courts.
D)None of these are correct.

Question 30

The number of federal judges sitting in each district and appellate court

A)depends on the population of the county in which district exists.
B)is equal across districts.
C)depends on the judicial budget for each calendar year.
D)None of these are correct.

Question 31

The decision in the case of ______________ overturned a previous rule, Betts v. Brady , on the matter of whether poor defendants should be provided a court-appointed attorney.

A)Mapp v. Ohio
B)Gideon v. Wainwright
C)Escobedo v. Illinois
D)Jackson v. Denno

Question 32

Disputes that reach the legal system are often, not always, resolved in court. Diversion to an alternative system may occur upon

A)one's first encounter with a police officer.
B)one's encounter with a psychologist.
C)escalation of problems due to traditional prosecution.
D)one's case being referred to traditional courts.

Question 33

Which two presidents were the most inclusive (i.e., in terms of gender and ethnicity)in their appointments of federal judges?

A)Barack Obama and George W. Bush
B)Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter
C)Barack Obama and Bill Clinton
D)Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton

Question 34

The idea that decisions by federal judges appointed by Democratic presidents differ from those of judges appointed by Republican presidents suggests that

A)an attitudinal model of decision making is at work.
B)judges view their cases in light of their attitudes.
C)Both A and B are correct.
D)None of these are correct.

Question 35

Which of the following represents differences between commonsense justice and black-letter law?

A)People tend to consider a wider context than the law.
B)As compared to the law, people tend to take a more subjective view of the actions of the defendant and victim.
C)People, when compared to the law, tend to take a proportional approach to punishment.
D)All of these are correct.

Question 36

What are the two distinguished process models of decision making that were proposed by cognitive psychologists to the judges?

A)Legal model of decision making and attitudinal model of human judgment
B)Attitudinal model of decision making and deliberative model of decision making
C)Altruistic model of decision making and intuitive model of decision making
D)Intuitive process and deliberative process models of decision making

Question 37

The Supreme Court has the authority to review which of the following?

A)All cases decided by the federal appellate courts
B)Any state court decisions based on the Constitution or on laws of the United States
C)Any state court decisions
D)Both A and B

Question 38

Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor condemned the practice of electing judges due to a concern that the election process can lead to the election of judges who are not

A)experienced enough to serve.
B)impartial.
C)punitive enough.
D)appropriately educated.

Question 39

In the 18th and 19th centuries, American lawyers became lawyers by

A)attending college for one year.
B)attending college for two years.
C)being apprentices.
D)declaring themselves to be one.

Question 40

According to research presented in Chapter 2, judges have been found to become ______________ as election time draws near.

A)friendlier
B)more punitive
C)less harsh
D)more forgiving

Question 41

The law set down by the founding fathers in the U.S. Constitution, written by legislators, and interpreted by judges is called the __________.

A)blue sky law
B)Model Penal Code
C)black-letter law
D)commonsense law

Question 42

What describes the situational and personality factor that causes positive and negative motivation eventually causing changes in subjective well-being?

A)Intrinsic motivation
B)Self-determination theory of optimal motivation
C)Extrinsic motivation
D)Motivated reasoning

Question 43

What term describes the process wherein a person's reasoning is typically outside of the person's awareness but functions as a powerful determinant of how people evaluate information and reach conclusions about the law?

A)Intuitive reasoning
B)Motivated reasoning
C)Logical reasoning
D)Commonsense justice

Question 44

A large majority of states base their criminal laws on the ______ drafted by the influential American Law Institute in the 1960s.

A)blue sky law
B)Model Penal Code
C)black-letter law
D)commonsense law

Question 45

Although there are 50 different state court systems in the United States, they all typically include ______.

A)"lower" courts, trial courts, and appellate courts.
B)"lower" courts and trial courts, and no appellate courts.
C)trial courts and appellate courts, and no "lower" courts.
D)"lower" courts and appellate courts, and no trial courts.

Question 46

If a plaintiff and a defendant are from different states, then a federal court has jurisdiction.

Question 47

The panel in an appeals court must decide the case by a majority vote.

Question 48

People v. Taylor , 1992, the case of a duped would-be offender, illustrates ______.

A)the Model Penal Code
B)presumptive sentencing
C)therapeutic jurisprudence
D)motivated reasoning

Question 49

Which of the following considers the accomplice as culpable as the triggerman in a crime scene?

A)Commonsense justice
B)Felony-murder doctrine
C)Procedural justice
D)Distributive justice

Question 50

The judicial system in which the judge has more control of the proceedings is called a(n)______ system.

A)inquisitorial
B)disruptive
C)adversarial
D)impractical

Question 51

What is the methodology where lawyers often rely on intuitive cognitive mechanisms rather than deliberative processes to evaluate cases?

A)Motivated reasoning
B)Overconfidence bias
C)Confirmation bias
D)Intrinsic motivation

Question 52

State court systems typically include lower courts, trial courts, one or more courts of appeal, and a state supreme court.

Question 53

Ken is feeling increasingly depressed during his first year of law school. The __________________ would likely explain his depression by suggesting that he is no longer intrinsically motivated to pursue his goal of being a lawyer; all his motivations are now extrinsic.

A)self-determination theory of optimal motivation
B)intuitive model of procedure
C)intrinsic/extrinsic theory of motivation
D)deliberative model of motivation

Question 54

Which justice system provides more justice than truth?

A)Adversarial system
B)Inquisitorial system
C)Administrative justice
D)Presumptive sentencing

Question 55

Which state in the United States passed a law in 2005 that banned the sale or rental of violent video games that portrayed killing, maiming, dismembering, or sexually assaulting an image of a human being to minors?

A)California
B)Texas
C)Florida
D)Virginia

Question 56

Which of these legal systems is followed in Europe but not in Great Britain?

A)Adversarial system
B)Inquisitorial system
C)Administrative justice
D)Presumptive sentencing

Question 57

Name the school of thought wherein the judges' decisions are influenced by a variety of psychological, social, and political factors, and they care about the real-world ramifications of their decisions.

A)Legal formalism
B)Legal realism
C)Commonsense justice
D)Distributive justice

Question 58

The ______ focuses on how people explain others' intentions.

A)attribution theory
B)intrinsic/extrinsic motivation theory
C)self-determination theory of optimal motivation
D)theory of intuition

Question 59

Which justice system provides more truth than justice?

A)Adversarial system
B)Inquisitorial system
C)Administrative justice
D)Presumptive sentencing

Question 60

According to one study, when lawyers discussed their cases with other lawyers, their predictions about the case outcome were

A)just as accurate as in an individual assessment.
B)often too low.
C)often too high.
D)significantly more accurate.

Question 61

Under the Right to Attorney Act, it is the duty of the state to provide a lawyer to those who cannot afford it.

Question 62

Highly competitive, achievement-oriented individuals are likely to be more satisfied with the law profession.

Question 63

Over the past two decades, public opinion regarding the culpability and punishment of juvenile offenders has shifted from a more rehabilitative to a more punitive position.

Question 64

Most state court judges face elections.

Question 65

Differentiate between distributive justice and procedural justice.

Question 66

When making inferences about another person's negative behaviors, we tend to attribute the cause to stable factors that are internal to the person.

Question 67

In the case of Caperton v. A. T. Massey Coal (2009), the Supreme Court addressed the conflict of interest posed by a judge who hears a case concerning a company that significantly contributed to his reelection campaign.

Question 68

According to 2005 statistics, nearly 90% of licensed lawyers worked as private practitioners most often in solo offices.

Question 69

According to law, an accomplice to a crime is charged the same as the one committing the crime.

Question 70

Most cases are settled by having a trial.

Question 71

New federal judges are appointed only when the currently serving judges retire, resign, or die.

Question 72

Judges who have daughters, regardless of their gender, tend to be more liberal on gender issues than judges who do not have daughters.

Question 73

Describe how attribution theory explains other's intentions.

Question 74

Most defendants cannot afford to hire a lawyer and so they are represented by public defenders.

Question 75

What does the Model Penal Code say about attempted as opposed to completed crimes? According to research by Darley et al. (e.g., 1996), how does the position of the Model Penal Code differ from citizens' general views?

Question 76

Discuss how justice has been viewed historically.

Question 77

Most state court judges are not in favor of retention elections.

Question 78

Perceptions about procedural fairness and trustworthiness of the system affect individual acceptance of different legal decisions.

Question 79

Judges' election has gathered a lot of momentum in the recent years just like the political elections. How has this impacted the judges? What are its influences on passing judgments in courts?

Question 80

Compare the inquisitorial and adversarial approaches.