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
27.
Passage A suggests that an ████████ ██
a
enforcing the law ████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ █████████ █████████ ████ ████████
The meaning of “capricious enforcement” in context is enforcement of a law in a way that is not intended. There’s no suggestion that “capricious enforcement” relates to the amount of resources an agency possesses.
b
enforcing the law █████████ ██ ███ █████████████ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ ████
This is the opposite of what we want. The meaning of “capricious enforcement” in context is enforcement of a law in a way that is not intended.
c
prioritizing enforcement of ███ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ██████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████
The meaning of “capricious enforcement” in context is enforcement of a law in a way that is not intended. There’s no suggestion that the amount of damage caused by a crime has any connection to “capricious enforcement.”
d
not understanding the ██████████ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ███ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ███
The meaning of “capricious enforcement” in context is enforcement of a law in a way that is not intended. There’s no suggestion that sometimes agencies enforce the law against people they aren’t supposed to because agencies don’t understand the difference between letter and intent. Rather, capricious enforcement can result from an agency choosing to target minor cases or cases that are otherwise not intended to be covered by the law.
e
not following the ██████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██ █████████ ███ ███