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

Question 1

When you are making inferences about what caused you to commit an act that has negative consequences, you would tend to blame

A)external and unstable causes.
B)external and stable causes.
C)internal and stable causes.
D)internal and unstable causes.

Answer 1

external and unstable causes.

Question 2

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 the above

Answer 2

all of the above

Question 3

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 the above

Answer 3

legality and morality.

Question 4

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 5

American trial procedure is a(n)____________ system of justice.

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

Question 6

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)both A and B
D)none of the above

Question 7

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 8

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 9

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 10

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

A)California
B)Oregon
C)Washington
D)New York

Question 11

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 the above

Question 12

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 U.S., rather than a state court
D)France

Question 13

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 do a crime was the same as actually doing 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 the above

Question 14

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 the above

Question 15

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

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

Question 16

Results of a survey of trial lawyers suggested that _____ of polled lawyers believed juror questioning improved the quality of justice, while _____ viewed juror questioning negatively.

A)33% and 49%
B)49% and 33%
C)50% and 50%
D)85% and 15%

Question 17

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.

Question 18

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 commit attempted and completed crimes deserve the same penalty.
D)none of the above (the Model Penal Code does not consider punishment)

Question 19

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 20

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

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

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 the above

Question 22

What are the two schools of thought regarding appellate decision making?

A)legal model of decision making and attitudinal model of decision making
B)attitudinal model of decision making and deliberative model of decision making
C)deliberative model of decision making and intuitive model of decision making
D)intuitive model of decision making and therapeutic jurisprudence decision making.

Question 23

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 24

What does it mean to say that important cases are sometimes heard en banc?

A)The trial is postponed until the judge has an opening.
B)Only one of the judges writes the opinion.
C)A majority vote is not needed.
D)All of the judges on the relevant court of appeals sit in on the case.

Question 25

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

A)therapeutic jurisprudence.
B)feminist jurisprudence.
C)critical legal studies.
D)altruistic jurisprudence.

Question 26

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 the above

Question 27

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)disregarding the law and presented evidence to acquit a defendant.
D)none of the above

Question 28

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

A)George W.Bush and George H.W.Bush
B)George W.Bush and Jimmy Carter
C)Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton
D)Ronald Regan and Bill Clinton

Question 29

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 an apprentice.
D)declaring themselves to be one.

Question 30

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 U.S.
C)any state court decisions
D)A and B

Question 31

A writ of certiorari is

A)a published court opinion.
B)a request that all judges from the pertinent Court of Appeals sit in on a case.
C)the order granting the Supreme Court review of a case.
D)only allowed in oral arguments.

Question 32

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 the above

Question 33

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 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
D)None of the above

Question 35

How many federal courts of appeal are there?

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

Question 36

When trial judges were asked to take the Cognitive Reflection Test, researchers found that the judges used

A)intuitive processes.
B)deliberative processes.
C)distributive processes.
D)both A and B

Question 37

The approach to law that views the law as a vehicle to improve the lives of those involved is

A)therapeutic jurisprudence.
B)feminist jurisprudence.
C)critical legal studies.
D)altruistic jurisprudence.

Question 38

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 39

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)B and C

Question 40

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 the above

Question 41

Most cases are settled by having a trial.

Question 42

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 43

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 44

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

Question 45

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 46

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

Question 47

Most state court judges face elections.

Question 48

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

Question 49

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

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

Question 50

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 re-election campaign.

Question 51

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

Question 52

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

Question 53

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

Question 54

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