Self-study
Support To hold criminals responsible for their crimes involves a failure to recognize that criminal actions, like all actions, are ultimately products of the environment that forged the agent's character. ██ ██ ███ █████████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ███████████ ████████ ███ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ ██████ ███ ████████ ████ ████████████ ██████████ ██ ██ ███████████ ██████ █████ ████████ ███ ███████ █████ ████ ████ █████ █████ ███████████ ███ ██████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that law-abiding people are solely responsible for crime. This is based on the assertions that (1) criminal actions, like all actions, are products of the environment, and (2) law-abiding people do the most to create and maintain the environment.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author’s conclusion contradicts parts of the reasoning. The author uses as a premise the claim that all actions are products of the environment. Because this means criminals’ actions are products of the environment, the author believes criminals are not responsible for their crimes. But law-abiding persons’ actions that create the environment would also be products of the environment, and thus they should not be responsible for their actions, either. The conclusion, however, asserts law-abiding people are responsible for crime.
22.
The reasoning in the argument ██ ████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████
a
it exploits an █████████ ██ ███ ████ █████████████ ██ ████████ ███ █████████ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ██████ ████ ████ ██████████
The author does not shift between multiple meanings of “environment.” “Environment” throughout the stimulus refers to the surroundings, conditions, and circumstances of a person’s life.
b
it fails to ███████████ ███████ ███████ ████ ███ ████████ ██████████ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ████████ ████████████
The stimulus concerns responsibility for crime. The distinction between socially acceptable and socially unacceptable plays no role in the reasoning. Even if you believe crime is socially unacceptable, the author does not fail to distinguish between crime and law-abiding actions.
c
the way it █████████████ █████████ ████ ██████ ██████████ ██████ ████ ███████ ███████ █ ████████ ██████ ██ ██████ ██ ██████ █████████ █ █████
The argument does not deny that one becomes a “criminal” solely by committing a crime. There’s a difference between what gives someone the status of “criminal” (which is what (C) is about) and what causal factors lead one to commit crimes (which is what the stimulus is about).
d
its conclusion is █ ██████████████ ██ ███████████ ████████ █████ ████ ████ █ █████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████████
There is no statistical evidence presented. And, the conclusion is not a generalization from what’s true about a small minority of the population.
e
its conclusion contradicts ██ ████████ █████████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ █████
In denying the responsibility of criminals, the author uses the implicit principle that one is not responsible for actions that are a product of one’s environment. But the author contradicts this principle when claiming that law-abiding persons are responsible for crime.