PT105.S3.P2.Q14

PrepTest 105 - Section 3 - Passage 2 - Question 14

Hide analysis
P1

Many of us can conceive of penalties that seem disproportionate to the crimes they are intended to punish. ███

Intro Topic · Concept of punishment that fits the crime
█ ████████ ██ █████████ ███ █ ██████ █████████ ██ █ ██████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ ███████ ██ █ ████████ ██ ██████ █████ ██ ██████ ███ ████████████ ███
Examples · of disproportionate punishment
Probation for murder is too light and long prison sentence for shoplifting is too severe.
███ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ███████████ ██████████ █████ ███ ███████████████ ██ ████████████

Question · Where do our intuitions about the appropriateness of punishments come from?
P2

█████ ███ ███ ████ ██████████ ███ █████████ ██████████ ███

Potential Answer · Two rationales for punishment
███ █████ █████████ █████████ █ ██████████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ ███████ ████████ ███ ████ ██ ██████████ ██████ █ ██████ ████ ██████████ █ ██████ ██ ████ █ █████████ ████████ ██ ███████ ████ ███████ ████ ███████ ██ ██████ ███
First Rationale · Social-benefit
Punishment is justified because society benefits from deterring would be criminals.
███ ██████ █████████ ██ ████ █ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ ███████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████████ ████ █████████ ██ █████████████ ███████ ████ ████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███ █ ██████████ ███ ██ █████████ ██ ██ ██████ ██ ████████ ████████ ███████ ████ ████████ ██████████ █████ ██████ ██ ██ ██████ ████ ████ ████████████ ███ ████ ███ █████████████ █████ ██ █████ ███ ████████ ██ ██ █████ █████ ██████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ██ ███████████ ███ ███████ ██ ██ ███████████ ███ ████████████

Second (Controversial) Rationale · Retribution
Punishment is not justified by benefit to society. Instead, punishment is justified by the severity of the crime; what is appropriate or just.
P3

███ ███████ ████ ███ ██████████████ █████████ ██ ████ ██ ██ ████████ ████ ████ █████ █████████ ████ ███ █████ ████████ ███ ████ █████ ███████ ██ ████████ ███ ████████ ██ ███████████ █████ ███████████ ████ ██████████ ███████████ █████ ██ █████████ ███ █████████ █████ ██ ██ ███ ████ ██ ████ █████ ███ ███████ ███ █████████ ███ ██████ ████ ███ █████ ███████ ██ ██ █████████ ███████████ ██████ ██ ███████ █████ █████ ████████████ ███

Problem · with social-benefit rationale
The societal benefit of deterrence can sometimes justify punishments that intuitively feel too severe. Example of shoplifter punishment.
███ ██ █████ ████ ████ ████ █████████ ███ ████ ████ ███████ ██ █ ███████████ ██████████ ██ ███████████ █████ █████ ███████ █████ ██ ███████████ ███ ██████████ ████ ███████████ ████ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████████████ ██ ██████ ████ ███ █████ ██████████ █████ █████ ███████████ █████ ███ ███ ████ ██ ██████████ ██ ████ ██ ██ ████████ ████████ ███████████ ███████████████ ██ ███ █████ █████ █████ ███ ███████████████ ███████ ███████████ ███ ███████ ████ ██ ████ █████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ███████████ ███████████

Solution · retribution is the better rationale
The concept of appropriateness (absent in social-benefit rationale) is what accounts for the intuition of proportionality in punishment. It's not about beneficial punishment. It's about just punishment.
P4

████████ ██ ███ ██ ██████ ████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ██ ██████ █████ ██████████ ██ █████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ████ █ ██████████ ██ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ ██████████ ██ ████████ ████ ██████████ ████ ███ █████████ ████ █ ██████████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ████ ██████████ ██████ ████████ ████████ ███████ ███████ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ███ ███ ██████ █████████ ███ ██ ████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ███ ███ ███████████ ██████ ███████████ ███

Critique of and Alternate Solution · Intuition can be justified with social-benefit rationale
The retributivist notions of appropriateness, proportionality, and justice can be reframed as balancing benefit to society against cost to the individual.
████ ██ █████ ████ ████ ███ █████████ █████████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████████████ ██ ███████████ ████ █████ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████████

Actual Answer / Main Point · The retributivist intuitions are grounded in social-benefit rationale
Passage Style
Single position
Show answer
14.

As described in the second ██████████ ███ ██████ █████████ ███ █████████ █████████ ██ ████ ██████████ ████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ███████████

a

The correctness of ██ ██████ ███████ ███ ██ ███ ████████████ ███ ██ ███ ████████ █████████

Supported. Under this rationale, the consequences (benefit to society) aren’t a consideration; what matters is what’s fair given the severity of the crime.

64%
b

The correctness of ██ ██████ ███████ ███ ██ ███ ████████████ ███ ██ ████ ███████ █████ ████████

Not supported, because the retributive rationale depends on what’s fair given the severity of the crime; what society “deems correct” is not a consideration.

3%
c

The correctness of ██ ██████ ███████ ██████ ██ ███ ████████████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ████████ █████████

Anti-supported, because the retributive rationale, as described by P2, doesn’t take into account consequences (social benefit).

8%
d

The correctness of ██ ██████ ███████ ██████ ██ ███ ████████████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ █████████ ██████████

Anti-supported, because the retributive rationale, as described by P2, doesn’t take into account consequences (social benefit).

7%
e

The correctness of ██ ██████ ███████ ████████ ██ ███ █████████████

Anti-supported, because the retributive rationale, as described by P2, doesn’t take into account consequences (social benefit).

18%

Answer five questions and we'll estimate your score.

It takes about five minutes.

Take the free diagnostic
More free LSAT prep: Sample LSAT questions Full-length diagnostic & practice test All free LSAT resources

Confirm action

Are you sure?