Chap 7

Question 1

What are the 3 types of offences ?

Answer 1

1. Summary
2. Indictable
3. Hybrid

Question 2

Describe a summary offence

Answer 2

• less serious crimes, max sentence < 6 months and $2000 fine
• tried by a judge only

Question 3

Describe an indictable offence

Answer 3

• Serious offences with sentence > 6 months

- can be tried by a judge or a jury

Question 4

Describe a hybrid offence

Answer 4

• Crown decides the proceedings of either summary or indictable charge

Question 5

What are the 3 steps in selecting a juror

Answer 5

1. Identify a large pool of potential jurors
2. A short list of jurors will be selected and interviewed by a judge
3. Potential juror is either selected or not

Question 6

What are 2 ways a lawyer could reject a juror?

Answer 6

1. Peremptory challenge
   - a lawyer can reject a juror without explanation or cause
2. Challenge for cause
   - lawyer must state the cause for which they believe the juror needs to be rejected (bias, impartiality)

Question 7

What 3 factors are important in impartiality?

Answer 7

1. Juror must set aside any preexisting biases or attitudes and judge the case base off of admissible evidence
2. The juror must ignore any information that is not a part of this admissible evidence
3. Juror must have no connection to the defendant

Question 8

What is jury nullification ?

Answer 8

When the jury makes a verdict based off anything other than the evidence for example, if they believe the sentence to be too harsh, if their behavior seems justified, or if the conviction is on a controversial subject

Question 9

What are 4 methods of researching juries

Answer 9

1. Post-trial interviews
2. Archival records
3. Trial stimulation
4. Field studies

Question 10

What are some advantages to each method of researching jurors ?

Answer 10

1. Interviews: High external validity, based off of real cases
2. Archives: High external validity, can use trial transcripts or police interview notes (accurate and informal information)
3. Stimulation: Internal validity (cause and effect can be determined)
4. Field studies: High external validity

Question 11

What are some limitations to each method of researching jurors?

Answer 11

1. Recount of events or thoughts can be swayed and inaccurate, no cause and effect can be determined
2. No control of how the data was collected and only have the information that is provided, no cause and effect
3. Not necessarily generalizable to real world, there are no real consequences to anyone in the mock trials
4. Small sample sizes, cant control variables of interest

Question 12

What are 6 factors that contribute to predicting a verdict ?

Answer 12

1. Demographic
2. Characteristics of the jury
3. Characteristics of the victim
4. Defendant characteristics
5. Attitudes