Self-study
Legal theorist: Only two types of theories of criminal sentencing can be acceptable—retributivist theories, which hold that the purpose of sentences is simply to punish, and rehabilitationist theories, which hold that a sentence is a means to reform the offender. █ █████████████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ █████████ ████ ███ █████████ ██ █ ██████████ ██████ ██ ████████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ ████████ █████████████ ████████ ████ ████ ████ █████████ ██████ ███████ ██████ █████████ ███ ██████ ████████ ████ ███ ██ ███████ ███████ ███████ ████ ██████████ █████ ██████ ████████ ███ ██ ██ ████ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ ████████
Summary
If a theory of criminal sentencing is acceptable, it must be (1) retributivist, OR (2) rehabilitationist.
If a retributivist theory is acceptable, then it MUST conform to the principle that harshness should be proportional to seriousness.
Retributivist theories that hold criminals should get longer sentences for repeat offenses do NOT conform to the principle that harshnes should be proportional to seriousness.
Very Strongly Supported Conclusions
Retributivist theories that hold criminals should get longer sentences for repeat offenses are NOT acceptable (because they violate the principle of proportionality).
24.
Which one of the following ███ ██ ████████ ████████ ████ ███ █████ ██████████ ███████████
a
No rehabilitationist theory █████ ████ █████████ ██ ████████ ██ ██ ██████████ █████ ██ ██████ ████ █████████
The stimulus doesn’t tell us about what any rehabilitationist theory holds. We know that rehab. theories might be acceptable, but we don’t know anything about the specific content of rehab. theories.
b
Reforming a repeat ████████ █████████ ████████ ██████ ████ ████████ ██████ █████████ ███ ███ ██████ ████████ ████ ███ ███ ███████ ████████
The stimulus doesn’t tell us what is required to reform a repeat offender. We know rehab. theories want to reform the offender. But we don’t know what’s required to reform an offender.
c
Any rehabilitationist theory ████ █████ ████ █████████ ██████ ███████ ██████ █████████ ███ ██████ ████████ ████ ███ ██ ███████ ███████ ██ ██ ██████████ ███████
The stimulus tells us what’s necessary for being an acceptable theory — it must be rehab. or retributivist. But we don’t know what is sufficient to make something acceptable.
d
All theories of ████████ ██████████ ████ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ ████ ███ █████████ ██ █ ██████████ ██████ ██ ████████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ███████████
The stimulus tells us what’s necessary for being an acceptable theory — it must be rehab. or retributivist. But we don’t know what is sufficient to make something acceptable.
e
A theory of ████████ ██████████ ████ █████ ████ █████████ ██████ ███████ ██████ █████████ ███ ██████ ████████ ████ ███ ██ ███████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ████ ██ ██ ██ █ █████████████████ ███████
Must be true, because we know that retributivist theories that hold criminals should receive longer sentences for repeat offenses are unacceptable. So if a theory that holds criminals should receive longer sentences for repeat offenses could possibly be acceptable, then it must be a rehab. theory.