Criminal Trial Process MCQs

Criminal Trial Process MCQs

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The benefits of practicing with these criminal trial process MCQs are manifold. They enable you to prepare for upcoming exams, interviews, or quizzes related to criminal law. Additionally, you can strengthen your knowledge, build familiarity with the legal terminology and concepts, and develop critical thinking skills necessary for analyzing criminal trial scenarios.

1: The primary criticism of an eyewitness’s confidence at trial that they are identifying the perpetrator who committed the crime is that accuracy of description is a poor predictor of ______.

A.   Accuracy of reliability

B.   Accuracy of identification

C.   Accuracy of confidence

D.   Accuracy of decision-making

2: The right to counsel at a lineup, if violated, results in the pretrial identification ______.

A.   Held admissible at trial

B.   Used in another format

C.   Held inadmissible at trial

D.   Of another suspect

3: The prosecutor has the power to offer plea bargains in exchange for testimony against defendants at trial. The corresponding defense protection is ______.

A.   To compel witnesses through the court’s subpoena power

B.   To do nothing at trial because the prosecutor has the burden

C.   To be protected through the constitution’s double jeopardy clause

D.   To remove potential jurors based on their race or gender

4: Research shows that the process of death-qualifying a jury means the jury is most likely to ______.

A.   Sentence the defendant to life without parole

B.   Find the defendant guilty of first-degree murder

C.   Find the defendant innocent of all crimes charged

D.   Sentence the defendant to be executed by the state

A.   Exculpatory

B.   Inculpatory

C.   Duality

D.   Discovery

6: Anyone can be convicted and sentenced to jail for disclosing information shared at a(n) ______ because such proceedings are conducted in secret.

A.   Voir dire

B.   Bail hearing

C.   Grand jury

D.   Arraignment

7: The federal Speedy Trial Act law states a charging document must be filed ______ days after an arrest and trial must begin 70 days from the filing of the charging document.

A.   10

B.   20

C.   30

D.   45

8: The “doubt” in “beyond a reasonable doubt” means ______.

A.   Doubt founded on reason

B.   Guilt beyond all doubt

C.   Doubt beyond a certainty

D.   100-yard touchdown

9: During voir dire, what type of challenges are unlimited?

A.   For cause

B.   Exculpatory

C.   Peremptory

D.   Invoking

10: What is it called when the appellate court reviews and overturns the defendant’s conviction?

A.   Charged

B.   Remanded

C.   Affirmed

D.   Reversed

11: For the U.S. Supreme Court to grant a writ of certiorari to hear a case, the case must involve ______.

A.   A state police power

B.   A discovery issue

C.   A federal issue

D.   A state issue

12: The U.S. Supreme Court is the country’s highest ______.

A.   Trial court

B.   Appellate court

C.   Pretrial court

D.   Factual court

13: Jury instructions do not define the elements of the crimes charged, give the applicable defenses, if any, and do not define burdens of proof and presumptions.

A.   True

B.   False

14: If a defendant files a motion to suppress, she typically seeks to keep out incriminating evidence at trial often on the grounds that the government seized evidence illegally.

A.   True

B.   False

15: Documentary evidence at trial is when witnesses speak from the witness stand under oath and give information to the court.

A.   True

B.   False

16: _____ is known as forcing an eyewitness to confirm or deny a suspect is the perpetrator by showing one photograph at a time rather than six photographs simultaneously in a photo array

A.   All of these

B.   Duty by commitment

C.   Absolute decision

D.   Duty by relationship

17: Is adversarial system american justice is based on the prosecutor and defense acting as opponents as a way to learn the truth?

A.   True

B.   False

18: _____ is an appellate court’s decision to uphold a lower court’s decision

A.   Affirm

B.   None of these

C.   Grand jury

D.   Arraignment

19: _____ is defined as those factors making the crime unusually heinous and perhaps warranting a more severe punishment; makes offenders death eligible in capital punishment trials

A.   The probation officer failed to charge as a crime

B.   Aggravating circumstances

C.   The judge chose to overlook at the sentencing hearing

D.   None of these

20: _____ is known as a plea in which the defendant does not admit that he or she is guilty of the crime charged but admits that the government has sufficient evidence to sustain a conviction if the defendant chooses to go to trial

A.   Remanded

B.   Reversed

C.   Alford plea

D.   None of these

21: Is appellate court a higher court that reviews a lower court’s proceedings?

A.   True

B.   False

22: _____ is court hearing where the defendant enters a plea to the charges

A.   Doubt beyond a certainty

B.   Doubt founded on reason

C.   All of these

D.   Arraignment

23: _____ is defined as deprivation of liberty

A.   Arrest

B.   The judge

C.   None of these

D.   The prosecutor

24: _____ is known as collateral (cash, property, assets) pledged before trial, usually by a suspect, his family, or friends, to secure his release and ensure attendance at trial

A.   None of these

B.   Mistakes in computer databases leading to an arrest

C.   Mistakes whether probable cause exists to arrest

D.   Bail

A.   False

B.   True

26: _____ is the taking of personal information of a suspect after arrest

A.   Booking

B.   Patrolling federal buildings

C.   All of these

D.   Skeet shooting with legislators

27: _____ is defined as the prosecution’s obligation to introduce enough evidence to overcome the presumption (belief) that the defendant is innocent

A.   Of another suspect

B.   Burden of proof

C.   Held inadmissible at trial

D.   None of these

28: _____ is known as tracks the physical evidence from its initial discovery to its presentation at trial

A.   Failed mandatory drug testing

B.   Went in and out of prison

C.   Chain of custody

D.   All of these

29: Is challenge for cause during jury selection, an argument made to the judge that a potential juror cannot be fair and impartial in deciding the case?

A.   False

B.   True

30: _____ is a meeting during which the lawyers for both sides submit proposed jury instructions to the judge on the basis of the evidence introduced at trial

A.   Sentence the defendant to be executed by the state

B.   Sentence the defendant to life without parole

C.   Charge conference

D.   All of these

31: _____ is defined as indirect evidence from which the jury must infer (conclude) that the defendant is guilty as charged

A.   Circumstantial evidence

B.   None of these

C.   Debase

D.   Delimit

32: _____ is known as the prosecutor and defense counsels’ final arguments to the jury to persuade the jury to find in their favor; arguments by counsel are not evidence

A.   Premeditated

B.   Willful

C.   Closing argument

D.   All of these

33: Is conditional plea a guilty plea entered on the “condition” that the defendant preserves certain issues on appeal, such as the legality of the judge’s ruling on the suppression of evidence?

A.   True

B.   False

34: _____ is close-ended leading questions that can be answered yes or no

A.   Cross-examination

B.   The government

C.   None of these

D.   The defense counsel

35: _____ is defined as five-part analysis determining the admissibility of expert testimony in federal court

A.   The defense counsel

B.   None of these

C.   The government

D.   Daubert test

36: _____ is known as sitting a jury in a capital murder case where potential jurors must commit to seriously considering life without parole and the death penalty as punishment

A.   Innocent

B.   All of these

C.   Being interrogated

D.   Death qualification

37: Is deliberations the decision-making process in which the jury engages to determine whether or not the accused is innocent?

A.   False

B.   True

38: _____ is illustrative evidence, such as a map, diagram, photograph, or model, used to help the jury understand the witness’s testimony

A.   All of these

B.   Demonstrative evidence

C.   Social learning

D.   Social control

39: _____ is defined as tangible items and witness testimony tending to prove a fact in the case

A.   None of these

B.   Direct evidence

C.   Knowingly

D.   Reckless

40: _____ is known as open-ended questions that invite the witness to do all of the talking

A.   Direct examination

B.   The judge chose to overlook at the sentencing hearing

C.   Associated with the offense, but not charged as a crime

D.   None of these

41: Is discovery the pretrial exchange of evidence between the prosecution and defense?

A.   True

B.   False

42: _____ is trial and appellate courts at both state and federal levels

A.   None of these

B.   Dual court system

C.   Rehabilitation

D.   Harmless error

43: _____ is defined as evidence tending to exonerate (prove the innocence of) the accused

A.   Lab results can never be questioned

B.   Exculpatory evidence

C.   Lab results are considered “testimony”

D.   None of these

44: _____ is known as a witness, usually with particular expertise, who can testify about his opinion on an ultimate issue at trial on the basis of his knowledge, training, and experience; different rules apply when insanity is raised as a defense

A.   Trespass

B.   Fraud

C.   Expert witness

D.   All of these

45: Is eyewitness identification eyewitness identifies the defendant as the perpetrator. Such identifications hold great influence over juries, but may be unreliable?

A.   False

B.   True

46: _____ is an investigative body composed of ordinary citizens who determine whether there exists probable cause that a felony has been committed

A.   None of these

B.   Violating the public trust and perjury

C.   Subornation of perjury and obstruction of justice

D.   Grand jury

47: _____ is defined as an admission of guilt by the defendant that negates the need for a trial

A.   Find the defendant innocent of all crimes charged

B.   Guilty plea

C.   None of these

D.   Find the defendant guilty of first-degree murder

48: _____ is known as an out-of-court statement offered for its truth

A.   Mistakes made exclusively on the right to counsel

B.   Hearsay

C.   The judge’s rulings on appeals prior to the conviction

D.   All of these

49: Is indictment formal felony charges brought by a grand jury?

A.   False

B.   True

50: _____ is a charging document filed by a prosecutor

A.   Self-defense in his home

B.   Hunting on federal lands

C.   None of these

D.   Information