LSAT 130 – Section 4 – Question 14

LSAT 130 - Section 4 - Question 14

September 2009

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT130 S4 Q14
+LR
Flaw or descriptive weakening +Flaw
Fact v. Belief v. Knowledge +FvBvK
A
1%
154
B
6%
155
C
1%
157
D
91%
165
E
1%
150
135
143
151
 +Medium 146.168 +SubsectionMedium

Editorial: A recent survey shows that 77 percent of people feel that crime is increasing and that 87 percent feel the judicial system should be handing out tougher sentences. Therefore, the government must firmly address the rising crime rate.

Summarize Argument
The editorial concludes that the government must address the rising crime rate. It supports this by citing a survey showing that 77% of people believe crime is increasing and 87% believe the judicial system should give tougher sentences.

Identify and Describe Flaw
This is the cookie-cutter flaw of confusing belief and fact. The editorial concludes that the government needs to address the rising crime rate simply because most people believe that the crime rate is rising. To reach its conclusion, the editorial must assume that this belief is true and the crime rate actually is rising, but it presents no evidence to support this assumption.

A
appeals to survey results that are inconsistent because they suggest that more people are concerned about the sentencing of criminals than are concerned about crime itself
The survey results are not inconsistent, nor do they suggest that more people are concerned about sentencing than about crime. Just because more people want tougher sentences than think crime is rising doesn’t mean that sentencing is a bigger concern than crime.
B
presumes, without providing justification, that there is a correlation between criminal offenders being treated leniently and a high crime rate
The editorial never makes this assumption. It’s possible that the survey respondents assume this, but the editorial never makes an assumption about any correlation between lenient sentencing and high crime.
C
fails to consider whether other surveys showing different results have been conducted over the years
This doesn’t explain why the argument is vulnerable to criticism, because the editorial doesn’t need to address any contradictory surveys taken over the years. Instead, it’s vulnerable because it assumes that people’s beliefs about crime rates reflect the actual crime rate.
D
fails to distinguish between the crime rate’s actually rising and people’s believing that the crime rate is rising
The editorial assumes that because 77% of people “feel” that crime is increasing, crime actually is increasing. It fails to distinguish between most people’s belief about something and the factual reality of that thing.
E
presumes, without providing justification, that tougher sentences are the most effective means of alleviating the crime problem
The author argues that the government must address rising crime, but it never makes any assumptions about how the government should address it or what the most effective means of alleviating crime might be.

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LSAT PrepTest 130 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Reading Comprehension

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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