Magazine article: Punishment for crimes is justified if it actually de

Magazine article: Punishment for crimes is justified if it actually deters people from committing them. But a great deal of carefully assembled and analyzed empirical data show clearly that punishment is not a deterrent. So punishment is never justified.

The reasoning in the magazine article’s argument is flawed because the argument


(A) depends on data that there is reason to suspect may be biased (incorrect)
Reason to suspect may be biased compels one to believe that punishment is justified as option A suggests another possibility of premise. However flaw should be in reasoning instead of finding the possibility of the premise.

(B) mistakenly allows the key term “punishment” to shift in meaning (incorrect)
Option B creates multiple possibilities of a sense of punishment as it suggests the shifting of meaning that can be interpreted anyway.

(C) mistakes being sufficient to justify punishment for being required to justify it (the best option)
Punishment is not a deterrent thus punishment is not the solution. As the author considers that something does not work should not be taken into practice and this general assumption is added with argument. The flaw in reasoning is that it is generalizing the case.

(D) ignores the problem of mistakenly punishing the innocent (incorrect)
It raises another point of discussion to categorize the guilty into two parts: innocent and guilty

(E) attempts to be more precise than its subject matter properly allows (incorrect)
Precision cannot justify the flaw in reasoning as the author considers that because punishment does not help hence punishment is not the solution to problems.