2. 职称英语
  3. Bernard Jackson is a free man today, but he has many bitter memories. Jackso

Bernard Jackson is a free man today, but he has many bitter memories. Jackso

游客2023-12-24  25
问题     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 the crimes, 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. Jackson was similar in appearance to the guilty man. The two women had made a mistake in identity. As a result, Jackson has lost five years of his life.
    The two women in this case were eyewitnesses. They clearly saw the man who attacked them, yet they mistakenly identified an innocent person. Similar incidents have occurred before. Eyewitnesses to other crimes have identified the wrong person in a police lineup or in photographs.
    Many factors influence the accuracy of eyewitness testimony. For instance, witnesses sometimes see photographs of several suspects before they try to identify the person they saw in a line-up of people. They can become confused by seeing many photographs or similar faces. The number of people in the line-up, and whether it is a live line-up or a photograph, may also affect a witness’s decision. People sometimes have difficulty identifying people of other races. The questions the police ask witnesses also have an effect on them.
    Are some witnesses more reliable than others? 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 individuals correctly.
    American courts depend on the ability of the 12 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 importantly, it has rightly convicted a larger number of guilty people; consequently, it continues to be of great value in the American judicial system.  [br] According to the passage, ______ might influence the witness’s identification of suspects.
选项 A、the education of the witness
B、the time of the day the crime occurs
C、the appearances of the suspect
D、the age of the suspect
答案 C
解析 这是一道细节理解题。解题句是第三段的“Many factors influence the accuracy of eyewitness testimony…They can become confused by seeing many photographs or similar faces．”(有很多因素会影响证人证词的准确性。当他们看到众多照片或相似面孔的时候，他们就会迟疑困惑。)四个选项当中，选项A“the education of the witness"(证人的受教育程度)，选项B“the time of day the Crime occurs”(罪案发生的时间)，选项C“the appearance of the suspect"(嫌疑犯的外形)和选项D“the age of the suspect”(嫌疑犯的年龄)，只有选项C是与原文相符的，故选C。
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