LSAT 143 – Section 4 – Question 14

LSAT 143 - Section 4 - Question 14

June 2015

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT143 S4 Q14
+LR
+Exp
Resolve reconcile or explain +RRE
Causal Reasoning +CausR
Math +Math
A
78%
165
B
5%
157
C
4%
157
D
3%
158
E
11%
159
139
150
161
 +Medium 146.108 +SubsectionMedium

The number of automobile thefts has declined steadily during the past five years, and it is more likely now than it was five years ago that someone who steals a car will be convicted of the crime.

"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why is it more likely for a car thief to be convicted now than five years ago, even though car thefts have been steadily decreasing?

Objective
The correct answer will be a hypothesis that explains a key difference between car theft five years ago and car theft now. The difference will be one that causes car thieves to be more likely to be caught and convicted now than they were five years ago.

A
Although there are fewer car thieves now than there were five years ago, the proportion of thieves who tend to abandon cars before their owners notice that they have been stolen has also decreased.
This is a difference that explains why car thieves today are more likely to be caught than car thieves five years ago. Instead of abandoning stolen cars quickly, thieves now keep stolen cars for longer, making it easier to catch them.
B
Car alarms are more common than they were five years ago, but their propensity to be triggered in the absence of any criminal activity has resulted in people generally ignoring them when they are triggered.
This does not contribute to an explanation for why car thieves are more likely to be caught today. Even though there are more car alarms, people generally ignore triggered car alarms, so they are not causing car thieves to be caught.
C
An upsurge in home burglaries over the last five years has required police departments to divert limited resources to investigation of these cases.
If police are prioritizing the investigation of home burglaries over the last five years, there are fewer resources to investigate car theft. So we can’t conclude that car thieves are more likely to be caught today based on this explanation.
D
Because of the increasingly lucrative market for stolen automobile parts, many stolen cars are quickly disassembled and the parts are sold to various buyers across the country.
This does not contribute to an explanation for why car thieves are more likely to be caught today. If anything, the dispersal of stolen car parts might make it less likely for car thieves to be caught. We need a reason why it is more likely.
E
There are more adolescent car thieves now than there were five years ago, and the sentences given to young criminals tend to be far more lenient than those given to adult criminals.
The fact that there are more adolescent car thieves now doesn’t explain why car thieves are more likely to be convicted now. Also, whether a car thief receives a lenient sentence doesn’t provide information about the number of convictions or the reasons behind them.

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LSAT PrepTest 143 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Reading Comprehension

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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