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
25.
The role of the word
a
(A) refers to attempts by the legislature to specify conduct that’s illegal. This doesn’t relate to “selectively” in Passage B, which isn’t about trying to be more specific about something. “Selectively” means being more limited in how something is applied, not trying to increase how specifically something is targeted.
b
(B) refers to the chance of letting a guilty person go free. This doesn’t match the role of “selectively,” which isn’t about the chance of something occurring.
c
“Alternative” refers to a different choice. This doesn’t match the role of “selectively,” which isn’t used to imply the existence of a different choice.
d
This best captures the role of “selectively.” Officials are exercising their discretion in enforcement; they are enforcing the law against fewer people than they could.
e
“Capricious” in the context of Passage A refers to enforcement of a law against those who are not intended to be brought within the scope of the law. This isn’t related to the role of “selectively,” because we’re not told that the officials are cutting off water to people who aren’t intended to have their water cut off in the event of late payments.