Self-study
Criminologist: Conclusion A judicial system that tries and punishes criminals without delay is an effective deterrent to violent crime. █████ █████████ ██████ ███ ██████████ █████ ███████████ ███ ███ ██ ██████████ ████████ ██ ████████████████ ███ ██ █████████ ███████ █████████ ████ ████ █████ ██████ █████ ██████ ███████████ ████ ████ ████████ ██ █████ ███ ████
Summarize Argument
The criminologist concludes that an efficient, fast judicial system is an effective deterrent against violent crime. This is because long trials with many legal avenues make criminals feel invulnerable, while prompt punishment makes criminals hesitate before committing crimes.
Notable Assumptions
The criminologist assumes that potential criminals' feelings about the legal system are closely related to whether or not they actually commit violent crimes. Otherwise, making the legal system scarier wouldn't really be a strong deterrent.
14.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ █████ ████ █████████ ██████ ███ ███████████████ █████████
a
It is in ███ ██████ ██ ███████ █████ ████ ██ ██ ███ █████████████
If violent crime is impulsive, then what criminals think about the legal system doesn’t really matter. That weakens the criminologist's argument, which assumes premeditation.
b
About one-fourth of ███ ████████ █████ ████████ ███ █ █████ ███ ████████ █████████
The criminologist is just concerned with deterring violent crime. As far as we know, the chance of wrongful arrest or conviction isn't relevant to deterrence.
c
Many violent crimes ███ █████████ ██ ██████████ ██████████
We don’t know of any relevant difference between first-time and repeat offenders, so we can't assume that shorter trials would be especially deterrent for either group. That makes this irrelevant.
d
Everyone accused of █ █████ ███ ███ █████ ██ █ ██████
The criminologist never says people shouldn’t have trials, but simply states that quicker trials deter violent crime. People's right to a trial isn't relevant to that claim.
e
Countries that promptly ██████ █████████ ███████████ ████ █████ █████ █████ ████ █████████ ████ █████ ████ ███████
This seems to support the criminologist’s argument (although it's about crime overall, not violent crime specifically). We need to weaken the argument, so this isn't helpful.