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Sometimes the outcome of a jury trial defies the commonsense expectation of thegeneral public. Such a verdict is more acceptable if we understand that the jury trialof an accused murderer is analogous to the statistical hypothesis-testing process. The null hypothesis in a jury trial is that the accused is innocent. The alternativehypothesis is guilt, which is accepted only when sufficient evidence exists to establishtruth. If the vote of the jury is unanimous in favor of guilt, the null hypothesis ofinnocence is rejected and the court concludes that the accused murderer is guilty. Anyvote other than a unanimous one for guilt results in a not guilty verdict. The courtnever accepts the null hypothesis: that is, the court never declares the accused innocent. A not guilty verdict implies that the court could not find the defendantguilty beyond reasonable doubt.(a) Define Type I and Type II errors in a murder trial.(b) Which of the two errors is the more serious? Explain.(c) The court does not, in general, know the value of ? and ?, but ideally, both shouldbe small. One of these probabilities is assumed to be smaller than the other in ajury trial. Which one, and why?(d) The court system relies on the belief that the value of ? is made very small byrequiring a unanimous vote before guilt is concluded. Explain why this is so.(e) For a jury prejudiced against a guilty verdict as the trial begins, will the value of ?increase of decrease? Explain.(f) For a jury prejudiced against a guilty verdict as the trial begins, will the value of ?increase of decrease? Explain.

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