Self-study
The number of automobile thefts has declined steadily during the past five years, and it is more likely now than it was five years ago that someone who steals a car will be convicted of the crime.
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why is it more likely for a car thief to be convicted now than five years ago, even though car thefts have been steadily decreasing?
Objective
The correct answer will be a hypothesis that explains a key difference between car theft five years ago and car theft now. The difference will be one that causes car thieves to be more likely to be caught and convicted now than they were five years ago.
14.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ █████ █████ ██████
a
Although there are █████ ███ ███████ ███ ████ █████ ████ ████ █████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ ████ ██████ █████ ██████ ██████ ████ ████ ████ ████ ██████ ███ ████ ██████████
This is a difference that explains why car thieves today are more likely to be caught than car thieves five years ago. Instead of abandoning stolen cars quickly, thieves now keep stolen cars for longer, making it easier to catch them.
b
Car alarms are ████ ██████ ████ ████ ████ ████ █████ ████ ███ █████ ██████████ ██ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ████████ ███ ████████ ██ ██████ █████████ ████████ ████ ████ ████ ███ ██████████
This does not contribute to an explanation for why car thieves are more likely to be caught today. Even though there are more car alarms, people generally ignore triggered car alarms, so they are not causing car thieves to be caught.
c
An upsurge in ████ ██████████ ████ ███ ████ ████ █████ ███ ████████ ██████ ███████████ ██ ██████ ███████ █████████ ██ █████████████ ██ █████ ██████
If police are prioritizing the investigation of home burglaries over the last five years, there are fewer resources to investigate car theft. So we can’t conclude that car thieves are more likely to be caught today based on this explanation.
d
Because of the ████████████ █████████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██████████ ██████ ████ ██████ ████ ███ ███████ ████████████ ███ ███ █████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ ██████ ██████ ███ ████████
This does not contribute to an explanation for why car thieves are more likely to be caught today. If anything, the dispersal of stolen car parts might make it less likely for car thieves to be caught. We need a reason why it is more likely.
e
There are more ██████████ ███ ███████ ███ ████ █████ ████ ████ █████ ████ ███ ███ █████████ █████ ██ █████ █████████ ████ ██ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ████ █████ █████ ██ █████ ██████████
The fact that there are more adolescent car thieves now doesn’t explain why car thieves are more likely to be convicted now. Also, whether a car thief receives a lenient sentence doesn’t provide information about the number of convictions or the reasons behind them.