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  3. Jury duty is bad enough, but imagine not being able to check your phone or e-mail to help relieve the boredom. That’s the new ru

Jury duty is bad enough, but imagine not being able to check your phone or e-mail to help relieve the boredom. That’s the new ru

admin2012-07-06  27
问题     Jury duty is bad enough, but imagine not being able to check your phone or e-mail to help relieve the boredom. That’s the new rule in Michigan, where trial judges are now required to order jurors not to use phones or other electronic devices while in trial or in deliberations. Telling your Twitter followers you are stuck at the courthouse is not likely to tip the scales of Lady Justice, but Googling for background info on a case is the legal equivalent of ripping off her blindfold.
    Despite admonitions from judges, many jurors can’t seem to keep their hands off their electronic devices, posting updates on their Facebook pages and — far more worrisome — mining the Internet during breaks in a trial. "The accused has a right to confront the accuser, and you can’t cross-examine Wikipedia on the stand," says Douglas Keene, an Austin, Texas, jury consultant. He points to a recent example of outside-the-jury-box research by one juror that led to a mistrial in a case in Miami. When the judge subsequently interviewed the other jurors, he discovered that in total, nine of the 12 had been Googling after hours.
    "If a generation is going to arrive in the jury box that is totally unused to sitting and listening but is using technology to gain the information it needs to form a judgment, that changes the whole orality tradition with which we are familiar," Sir Igor Judge , Britain’s Chief Justice, said. In the past, the trial lawyer would present evidence orally, perhaps with a few paper exhibits, but today’s jurors want to see the supporting evidence in detail. "One thing we see often in mock trials is, jurors are used to seeing source documents," says Anne Reed, a Milwaukee attorney and former jury consultant. "In today’s world, I can go online and see the underlying document — if the newspaper report quotes a memo, I can link to a copy of the memo. "
    Googling for more information is an unconscious habit for most of us, Reed adds, noting that she keeps her iPhone at hand as she watches television. This modern reflex can lead jurors to digital misadventures. Reed fears that the next challenge facing the jury system will be the deliberate planting of misinformation online.
    Today’s courthouses often have free wifi, but many judges are still loath to separate jurors from their cell phones and BlackBerrys during long breaks. However, judges need to do more than simply admonish jurors about what not to do — they need to explain why, Keene says.
    The temptation to hop online is so great, and the habit so ingrained, that, as Keene notes, a burglar in Pennsylvania ended up getting caught because he stopped to look at his Facebook page on the victim’s computer, leaving an online trail for the police to follow. "If a burglar can’t resist checking his Facebook status while in the high-adrenaline process of burglarizing your home," Keene writes, "what’s to stop a juror during courtroom tedium?" [498 words]
The author thinks that the new rule in Michigan is______.
选项 A、boring
B、confusing
C、unnecessary
D、reasonable
答案D
解析 本题考查作者观点。
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