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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What sentence must the defendant face if proven guilty?
(a) Life imprisonment with the possibility of parole.
(b) Life imprisonment without possibility of parole.
(c) At least thirty years imprisonment.
(d) The death penalty.

2. Before the jurors depart for the jury room, who gives them final instructions?
(a) The prosecution.
(b) The defense.
(c) The foreman.
(d) The judge.

3. What is the setting in which the reader first meets the twelve characters who give the play its name?
(a) The murder scene.
(b) The bus in which the jurors are being transported to court.
(c) The jury room in a New York court.
(d) The court room.

4. What kind of man is the dissenting juror?
(a) A man who is not employed so he has no urgent business to conduct.
(b) A man of conviction who takes the role of the jury very seriously.
(c) A man of conviction who does not believe in prejudice.
(d) A man who owns his own business and can control his own use of time.

5. According to one witness, where in the apartment building did the murder occur?
(a) Downstairs.
(b) On the staircase.
(c) Upstairs.
(d) On the landing.

6. What is the state of mind of most of jurors as they enter the jury room?
(a) Tired, uncomfortable and eager to return with a guilty verdict.
(b) Tired, but committed to spending whatever time it takes to analyze the evidence.
(c) Eager to return a just verdict even though they are uncomfortable.
(d) Willing to do whatever is necessary to reach the right verdict.

7. To what age group does the defendant belong?
(a) He is middle-aged.
(b) He is a teenager.
(c) He is in his thirties.
(d) He is in his early twenties.

8. Why is the murder weapon jammed into the wall?
(a) Because the foreman does not want it handled.
(b) Because the table is cluttered.
(c) Because the juror who jams it there is angry.
(d) So everyone can see how unusual it is.

9. Why is it clear from the dissenting juror's action that anyone could have had a weapon similar to the murder weapon?
(a) He purchased it for $10 from a hunting shop nearby.
(b) He purchased it for $2.00 from a shop near the defendant's house.
(c) He borrowed it from a policeman who said they confiscate them from schoolboys all the time.
(d) He found it on the street.

10. Which of the jurors comment that they all had difficult lives, so a difficult life should not explain the defendant's history of violence?
(a) 6,7,1 and 3.
(b) 3, 4, 11 and 12.
(c) 4, 7, 3 and 11.
(d) 3, 6, 9 and 12.

11. What is the outcome of the "different" vote suggested by the dissenting voter?
(a) Eight jurors vote "guilty" and three vote "not guilty".
(b) Nine jurors vote "guilty" and two vote "not guilty".
(c) All vote "not guilty".
(d) There is a change in the outcome.

12. What comment by Juror Ten reveals his prejudice?
(a) He dislikes all people who are not of his racial background.
(b) He dislikes all Caucasians.
(c) He has lived among people "like the defendant" and they cannot be trusted.
(d) He dislikes all foreigners.

13. What does the verdict from the second vote among jurors prove?
(a) That the evidence is clearer after the discussion.
(b) That the arguments presented by the dissenting juror had some effect.
(c) That the dissenting juror is right in his "not guilty" verdict.
(d) That the foreman does a good job of managing the ballot.

14. Who is the defendant and for what is he being tried?
(a) A man is being tried for the murder of his son.
(b) A man is being tried for the murder of the woman next door.
(c) A boy is being tried for the murder of a man downstairs.
(d) A young man is being tried for the murder of his father.

15. At what age was the defendant in reform school?
(a) Fourteen.
(b) Thirteen.
(c) Sixteen.
(d) Fifteen.

Short Answer Questions

1. At what time is the murder alleged to have occurred?

2. Based on the impact of their testimony on the jury, who are the two most important witnesses?

3. How does the dissenting juror discredit the allegation that the murder weapon is unique?

4. Why does the dissenting juror insist they should spend time examining the evidence in detail?

5. Which juror rebukes Juror Ten for his racist comment?

(see the answer keys)

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