PT158.S1.P4.Q22 > Analytics

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The use of criminal sanctions against corporations is well established, but the practice has recently come under fire from legal theorists who maintain that corporations should be held civilly rather than criminally liable for wrongdoing. ███

Intro topic / theorists' perspective · Corporations should be subject to civil liability, rather than criminal liability

Similarities between civil and criminal · Both punish, try to deter, hurt reputation

Theorists' support · Civil liability has benefits over criminal liability

Civil liability can punish in a more calibrated way. Criminal liability causes more harm to society. Civil liability is less expensive than criminal liability.

Author's response · Criminal liability provides stronger deterrent

Criminal liability can reach individual corporate officials. Also, it doesn't need an identifiable victim with enough money to bring a lawsuit. And, it shows society rejects the bad conduct.

Other theorists' perspective · Criminal liability OK, but punish individuals

Individuals are more responsive to deterrence. Fines against a corporation punish the public by causing the corporation to raise prices.

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Author's response · Criminal liability against corporations, too

Can be difficult to identify which individuals to punish. Corporations might pay individuals to take the blame. Punishing corporations motivates shareholders to push for better conduct.

Passage Style

Critique or debate

22.

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

Question Type

Purpose in context (of word, phrase, or idea)

Structure

The line immediately before this states, “[relying on criminal liability for individuals instead of corporations] is misguided.” The author then mentions the fact that corporations bury responsibility within complex hierarchies as a supporting point. Because it’s difficult to identify which individuals are responsible for misconduct in a corporation, criminal liability for individuals isn’t as effective at deterring misconduct compared to criminal liability for corporations.

to explain why ████████████ █████ ████ ██ ████████████ ██ ███████ ██ ████████ █████████

This doesn’t capture the author’s purpose, which is to show that criminal liability for individuals isn’t as effective a deterrent as criminal liability for corporations. Although the author mentions that corporations will often find an internal scapegoat, the claim that corporations bury responsibility within hierarchies doesn’t explain why it’s advantageous to appoint a scapegoat. These are simply two separate points supporting the author’s criticism of criminal liability for individuals.

13%

to highlight the ███████ ███ ███████████ ████ █████████ ██ ███████ ██ █████████ ████████ ██████████ ████ ██████████ ██ ██████████

The claim about burying responsibility supports the author’s criticism of those who believe individuals are more responsive to deterrence.

to underscore the ██████ ██ █████ █████████ ████████ █████████ █████████ ███████ ██████ ████████

This doesn’t capture the author’s purpose, which is to show that criminal liability for individuals isn’t as effective a deterrent as criminal liability for corporations. The author never argues that corporate criminal liability can be unfair.

to indicate that ███ ████████ ████ ███████████ ██ ███████ ██ ████████ █████████ ███ █████████ ██████████ ██ ██████ ██ ██ █████████████

This best captures the author’s purpose. The author’s pointing out that it is difficult to identify the individuals responsible for misconduct, which will decrease the deterrent effect of criminal liability for individuals.

75%

to suggest that ███████ ██ ████████ █████████ █████████ ████ █████████████ ███ █████ ██████████ ██ ████████ █████████

The author never questions the critics’ understanding of the definition of criminal liability.

PrepTest 158 - Section 1 - Passage 4 - Question 22

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