Hi, AJL115,
Welcome to our forums! Thanks for the question.
This question asks us to find the answer choice that
is not a characteristic of the inquisitorial system. In other words, there will be evidence in the passage to suggest that four of the five answer choices are characteristics of the inquisitorial system. When doing a question such as this, process of elimination is your best friend. Let's find these four answer choices, knock them out, and pick whatever is left.
- A) In lines 30-45, the article describes an inquisitorial process in which the prosecutor, defendant, and judge work together on "fact-finding," with mutual compulsory pretrial discovery. While the article does not use the term "cooperative," this excerpt describes a cooperative process. Further, this excerpt is structured in direct contrast with the preceding discussion of the adversarial system, which is premised on a "forensic duel" between two parties. Thus, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that the inquisitorial system is cooperative.
B) "Mandatory" full disclosure is discussed on line 38.
C) An active role for the judge is discussed on line 43.
D) This is the credited response. This is not an aspect of the inquisitorial system. This is in fact a characteristic of the adversarial system. c.f. line 18 in which the passage states that the defendant must conduct his own pretrial investigation.
E) Line 54 states that "a defendant who is innocent would prefer to be tried under the inquisitorial system."
I hope this helps!