Text 3Bernard Jackson is a free man today but
问题详情
Text 3
Bernard Jackson is a free man today, but he has many bitter memories. Jackson spent five years in prison after a jury wrongly convicted him of raping two women. At Jackson" s trial, although two witnesses testified that Jackson was with them in another location at the times of thcrimes, he was convicted anyway. Why? The jury believed the testimony of the two victims, who positively identified Jackson as the man who had attacked them. The court eventually freed Jackson after the police found the man who had really committed the crimes.
Many factors influence the accuracy of eyewitness testimony. For instance, witnesses some-times see photographs of several suspects before they try to identify the person they saw in a lineup of people. They can become confused by seeing many photographs of similar faces. The number of people in the lineup, and whether it is a live lineup or a photograph, may also affect a witness" s decision. People sometimes have difficulty identifying people of other races. The questions the po-lice ask witnesses also have an effect on them.
Many people believe that police officers are more reliable than ordinary people. Psychologists decided to test this idea, and they discovered that it is not true. Two psychologists showed a film of crimes to both police officers and civilians. The psychologists found no difference between the police and the civilians in correctly remembering the details of the crimes. .
Despite all the possibilities for inaccuracy, courts cannot exclude eyewitness testimony from a trial. American courts depend almost completely on eyewitness testimony to resolve court cases. Sometimes it is the only evidence to a crime, such as rape. Furthermore, eyewitness testimony is often correct. Although people do sometimes make mistakes, many times they really do identify in dividuals correctly.
American courts depend on the ability of the twelve jurors, and not the judges, to determine the accuracy of the witness" s testimony. It is their responsibility to decide if a certain witness could actually see, hear, and remember what occurred.
In a few cases the testimony of eyewitnesses has convicted innocent people. More important ly,it has rightly convicted a larger number of guilty people; consequently, it continues to be of great value in the American judicial system.
56. Benard Jackson was found guilty by the jury because_________ .
[A] the victims insisted that he was the attacker
[ B] the judge believed in the victims" identification
[ C] the police discovered evidence leading to his guilt
[D] the eyewinesses confirmed the victims" testimony请帮忙给出正确答案和分析,谢谢!
参考答案
正确答案:A
Text3参考译文现在BernardJackson是一个自由人了,但是他有很多痛苦的记忆。在一个陪审团错误的判定他强奸了2名妇女之后,Jackson在监狱里度过了5年。在Jackson的案子中,尽管两个证人能够证明Jackson案发时是和他们在一起的,他仍被判定有罪。为什么呢?因为陪审团相信两名受害人的证词,她们十分肯定地认定Jackson就是那个罪犯。在警察发现那个真正罪犯之后,法庭最终释放了Jackson。很多因素影响目击证人证词的精确性。例如,证人有时候在看了几个犯罪嫌疑人的照片之后,然后尽力在一排人中去识别嫌疑人。因为看了很多相似面孔的照片,他们会变得困惑。另外,一队人的数量,是现场确认还是照片确认,也会影响证人的判断。人们有时候在辨别其他种族的人时也会遇到困难。警察询问的问题也可能影响他们的判断。很多人认为警察比普通人更加可靠。心理学家决定检测这个观点,结果发现这个观点是不正确的。两个心理学家向警察和普通人都展示了关于罪犯的影片。他们发现在正确记住罪犯的详细信息方面警察和普通人没有差别。尽管有这些不准确性的可能存在,法院在审理案件时不能把目击证人排除在外。美国法院几乎完全依靠目击证人来处理案件。有时候目击证人是唯一的证据,例如强奸。再进一步说,目击证人在大多数情况下是正确的。尽管人们有时候会犯错误,但很多时候他们是真的可以正确地辨别出来的。美国法院在决定证人证词的准确性时,依靠的是十二个陪审员,而不是法官。由陪审员来判定一个证人是否确实看到、听到或者记住发生了什么。在一些案件中,目击证人的证词的确冤枉了无辜的人。但更重要的是,它也正确地裁决了一大批的罪犯。所以它在美国的法律系统中仍然有很大的价值。56.A【精析】细节题。文章第一段倒数第二句提到“Thejurybelievedthetestimonyofthetwovictims,who…”陪审团相信两名受害人的证词,她们十分肯定地认定Jackson就是那个罪犯,与A项“受害者坚持认为Jackson是那个罪犯”表示的意思相同,故选A。