Self-study
Passage A.
P1
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Topic of passage A ·
Reasons to not prosecute
P2
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Premise 1 ·
Laws are overinclusive
They end up accidentally forbidding some acts that weren't meant to be forbidden.
Premise 2 ·
Always enforcing overinclusive laws means harming the innocent
Premise 3 ·
Instead, can choose to sometimes not prosecute ("discretionary nonenforcement")
P3
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Raise question ·
How law enforcement actually decides if/when to not prosecute
Does law enforcement actually prosecute for acts that weren't intended to be punished?
Author's perspective ·
Law enforcement mostly chooses not to prosecute acts that weren't intended to be punished
Punishing acts that weren't meant to be punished ("capricious enforcement") does occur, but it's not the norm because legislative oversight helps to counteract it.
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P4
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Problem ·
Overdue water bills
Solution ·
Selectively punish only some residents
P5
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Alternative solution ·
Lien
Overdue bills are collected later, when the property is sold
P6
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Problem with alternative solution ·
Liens can't be used for unpaid water bills
Author's solution ·
Expand the law to allow liens for unpaid water bills
Passage Style
26.
The author of passage A █████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██████████ ██████████ ███ ████ █████████ ██
a
Officials should not █████████ ███ ████ █████ ████ █████ ███ █████████████ ██████ ██████████████ ████████
We have no reason to think Passage A would want officials to delay the implementation of their water shutoff plan.
b
At least the ████ █████ ████ █ █████ ██████ ████ ████ █████ ███████ ███ ███ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████████ ████ ████ ███ ████ ██ █████
c
The plan is █ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ████████████ ███████ ██ █████████ █████████████ █████ ██ ███ ███████
We have no reason to think Passage A believes the water department in Passage B has a “history” of enforcing overinclusive rules to the letter. If anything, Passage B suggests that the water department has not engaged in mass shutoff of water before.
d
A better plan █████ ████ ████ ██ █████ █████ ██ ███ ██████████ █████ ██ █████ ███ ███ ████ ██████ █████ ██████
We have no reason to think Passage A would believe placing liens on properties is a better solution than discretionary enforcement of the water laws. Passage A discusses discretionary enforcement as an acceptable approach to overinclusive laws, and that’s exactly what the officials are doing in Passage B.
e
Instead of implementing ███ █████ ████████ ████ █████████ ███ ███████ ██ █████ █████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███████ █ ████ █████████ ███ ██ ███████████
We have no reason to think Passage A would have any thoughts about changing laws to change incentives. Passage A discusses discretionary enforcement as an acceptable approach to overinclusive laws, and that’s exactly what the officials are doing in Passage B.