prasannar wrote:
Even if a crime that has been committed by computer is discovered and reported, the odds of being both arrested and convicted greatly favor the criminal.
Each of the following, if true, supports the claim above EXCEPT:
(A) The preparation of computer-fraud cases takes much more time than is required for average fraud cases, and the productivity of prosecutors is evaluated by the number of good cases made.
(B) In most police departments, officers are rotated through different assignments every two or three years, a shorter time than it takes to become proficient as a computer-crime investigator.
(C) The priorities of local police departments, under whose jurisdiction most computer crime falls, are weighted toward visible street crime that communities perceive as threatening.
(D) Computer criminals have rarely been sentenced to serve time in prison, because prisons are overcrowded with violent criminals and drug offenders.
(E) The many police officers who are untrained in computers often inadvertently destroy the physical evidence of computer crime.
OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
The passage discusses only the odds of being both arrested and convicted for a computer crime. There is no discussion of sentencing computer criminals.
Hence the answer is (D).All the remaining choices support the claim that computer criminals are unlikely to be both arrested and convicted for their crimes. As to (A), if computer-fraud cases are time consuming, then the courts’ limited resources are less likely to be directed toward them. Additionally, if prosecutors are measured by the number of good cases made, then they are unlikely to prosecute marginal cases and therefore the criminals in those cases will go free. As to (B), if the officers are not proficient, then, by definition, they will not catch many computer criminals. As to (C), if police departments give low priority to computer crime, then clearly few computer criminals will be arrested. Finally, as to (E), if a bunch of bunglers are destroying evidence, then few arrested computer criminals will be convicted.