PrepTest 145 - Section 1 - Passage 2 - Question 8

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The following passage is adapted from an article published in 1993.

Question · How severe should punishment be for corporate crime?

E.g., crime where a corporation profits from harming consumers

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Economists' Answer · Depends solely on a cost-benefit analysis

E.g., if profits were $6 million, then a fine in excess of that would suffice

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Economists' Answer · Punishment should only affect earnings

Morality should not be a factor in determining the punishment

Critique / Major Premise · Economists' approach is impractical

Sub-premise · Cost-benefit analysis must account for estimated detection ratios

Not every crime is detected. If corporations were punished only for the crimes that are detected, they would actually be incentivized to keep committing the crime and reaping profits.

Passage Style

Critique or debate

Which one of the following ████ ██████████ ████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████

Question Type

Main point

If the author advocates a view, the main point should capture that view. Here, the author argues that some other criterion besides cost/benefit is necessary when determining penalties for corporate crimes. This view is expressed at the end of the passage: “Thus, some other criterion in addition to the reckoning of cost and benefit—such as the assignment of moral weight to particular crimes—is necessary so that penalties for corporate crimes will be practical as well as just.”

Because not all █████████ ██████ ███ █████████ ██████ ████ ██████████ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ █████████ ██████ ████ ███████ ████ ███████████ █████████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ███ █████████ ███ ██ ██ ████ █████████ ███ █████

The author does believe detection ratios should be taken into account, but she also argues that this isn’t enough to make for a practical and fair punishment. (A) doesn’t capture the author’s advocacy for using some other criterion besides cost/benefit.

10%

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This doesn’t capture the author’s advocacy for using some other criterion besides cost/benefit.

Because they argue ████ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ███ ███████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ █████ ███ ███████████ █████████ ███ █████████ ███████ ██████████ ██ ██ █████████ ██ ███████████ ████ ███████ ████ ███ █████████ ████ ██████ ███ ████ █████████ ████████ ███ █████████ █████████

This doesn’t capture the author’s advocacy for using some other criterion besides cost/benefit.

Because it does ███ ████ █████████ ██████ ████ ████████ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ████ █████ ███ ███████████ █████████ ███ █████████ ██████ ███████ ██ █████████ ████ ███ ███ ████ ██████ ████ ██ ███████ █████████ █████ █████████ ███ ██ ████ █ ███████ █████ ███ ██████████ ██ ██████████ █████████ ██████

This doesn’t capture the author’s advocacy for using some other criterion besides cost/benefit.

10%

Because the need ██ ████ █████████ ██████ ████ ███████ █████ █████████ ████ ███ ███████ ███████████ ██ ███ ████ █████ ███ ███████████ █████████ ███ █████████ ███████ ███████ ██████ ██ ███████████ ███ █████████ ████ ██ █████ ██ ██████████ ████ ██████████

This best captures the author’s view that we need some other criterion besides cost/benefit when determining punishment for corporate crimes.

76%

PrepTest 145 - Section 1 - Passage 2 - Question 8

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