Legislator: The recently released crime statistics clearly show that the new laws requiring stiffer punishments for violators have reduced the crime rate. ██ ███ █████ ███████ ██ █████ █████ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ███ █████████ ██ ██████████ ████ ███ ████ █████ █████ ███ ███████████ ███ ████████
████████ ███ ██████████ ███ ███████ █████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████ ████████ ████ ███ ███ ████ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ██████ ████ ██████████ █████ ████ ████ ████ ███████████ ████ ████████ █ ███████ ████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ██████ ███ ████ ███████
The analyst concludes that the decrease in crime in areas covered by new, stricter punishment laws does not constitute strong evidence that those laws caused the decrease in crime. The analyst supports this conclusion with a comparison to areas that have experienced a similar decrease in crime, but without similar laws.
The analyst counters the legislator’s cause-and-effect argument by pointing out comparable cases that have shown the same “effect” but that have not experienced the proposed “cause.” This suggests that there is some alternative explanation that has given rise to the effect.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████ ████ ████████ ███ ████████████ █████████
pointing out that ███ ██████████ ███ ████████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ █████ ███ ████████████ ██████████ ██ █████
arguing that the ██████████ ███ ████████████ █████████ ████ ███ █████ ███ ██████ ███████ ███████ ██████ ███ ███ ███████████ ████ ████ ██████ ███ ███████ ██ █ ██████ █████
objecting that the ██████████ ██ █████ ███ ██████████ ██ ██████ ███ ██████████ ███ █████ ████ █ ████ ██████ ████ ██ ███ █████ ██ █████ █ ██████████ ████ ██████
claiming that the ██████████ ███ █████████ ██ █████████ █ ██████████ ██████████ ███████ █████ ██ ██ ██ ███ ████████████ █████████████ ██████ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████ ███ ███ █████ ██ ███ ██████
implying that the ██████████ ███ █████ █ ██████████ █████ █████ ███ ██████ ███████ ███████████ ███ █████ ███ ███████ ██████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ █████