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x97agarwal
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There is something irrational about our system of laws. The 01 Jul 2008, 19:59
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There is something irrational about our system of laws. The criminal law punishes a person more severely for having successfully committed a crime than it does a person who fails in his attempt to commit the same crime - even though the same evil intention is present in both cases. But under the civil law a person who attempts to defraud his victim but is unsuccessful is not required to pay damages.
Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the author's argument?

(A) Most people who are imprisoned for crimes would commit another crime if they are ever released from prison
(B) A person is morally culpable for his evil thoughts as well as for his evil deeds
(C) There are more criminal laws on the books than there are civil laws on the books
(D) A criminal trial is significantly more costly to the state than a civil trial
(E) The goal of the criminal trial is to punish the criminal, but the goal of the civil law is to compensate the victim

Please explain: I went with A, but this is not the answer.



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There is something irrational about our system of laws. The 01 Jul 2008, 20:18
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x97agarwal
There is something irrational about our system of laws. The criminal law punishes a person more severely for having successfully committed a crime than it does a person who fails in his attempt to commit the same crime - even though the same evil intention is present in both cases. But under the civil law a person who attempts to defraud his victim but is unsuccessful is not required to pay damages.
Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the author's argument?

(A) Most people who are imprisoned for crimes would commit another crime if they are ever released from prison
(B) A person is morally culpable for his evil thoughts as well as for his evil deeds
(C) There are more criminal laws on the books than there are civil laws on the books
(D) A criminal trial is significantly more costly to the state than a civil trial
(E) The goal of the criminal trial is to punish the criminal, but the goal of the civil law is to compensate the victim

Please explain: I went with A, but this is not the answer.
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From the reading, I think E is the best choice. Author's argument is; in civil law, the person who is not successful in defrauding the victim is not guilty (i.e. no need to pay) while in criminal law, the person is anyway guilty though the severity is less than another person who succeeds. And from this, authors concludes that the system of laws is irrational. If E is true, in other words, if there is enough justification for the two different laws, we may think that the system of laws is not irrantional...any other thoughts?
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There is something irrational about our system of laws. The 01 Jul 2008, 20:28
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x97agarwal
There is something irrational about our system of laws. The criminal law punishes a person more severely for having successfully committed a crime than it does a person who fails in his attempt to commit the same crime - even though the same evil intention is present in both cases. But under the civil law a person who attempts to defraud his victim but is unsuccessful is not required to pay damages.
Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the author's argument?

(A) Most people who are imprisoned for crimes would commit another crime if they are ever released from prison
(B) A person is morally culpable for his evil thoughts as well as for his evil deeds
(C) There are more criminal laws on the books than there are civil laws on the books
(D) A criminal trial is significantly more costly to the state than a civil trial
(E) The goal of the criminal trial is to punish the criminal, but the goal of the civil law is to compensate the victim

Please explain: I went with A, but this is not the answer.
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Conclusion:There is something irrational about our system of laws
E gives reasons and weakens the argument by saying the laws are not irrational
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There is something irrational about our system of laws. The 02 Jul 2008, 01:27
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Conclusion - There is something irrational about our system of laws.

Premise - The criminal law punishes a person more severely for having successfully committed a crime than it does a person who fails in his attempt to commit the same crime - even though the same evil intention is present in both cases. But under the civil law a person who attempts to defraud his victim but is unsuccessful is not required to pay damages.


(A) Most people who are imprisoned for crimes would commit another crime if they are ever released from prison
Does not support the premise or conclusion.
(B) A person is morally culpable for his evil thoughts as well as for his evil deeds
Out of Context. We are not talking about thoughts and deeds
(C) There are more criminal laws on the books than there are civil laws on the books
Supports the conclusion.
(D) A criminal trial is significantly more costly to the state than a civil trial
Out of Context. Argument does not talk about the costs
(E) The goal of the criminal trial is to punish the criminal, but the goal of the civil law is to compensate the victim
Rational behind the premise. Also the assumption for the argument and hence the answer.
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There is something irrational about our system of laws. The 02 Jul 2008, 02:32
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It has to be E .. Nothing else explains the irrationality.
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There is something irrational about our system of laws. The 02 Jul 2008, 03:34
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x97agarwal
There is something irrational about our system of laws. The criminal law punishes a person more severely for having successfully committed a crime than it does a person who fails in his attempt to commit the same crime - even though the same evil intention is present in both cases. But under the civil law a person who attempts to defraud his victim but is unsuccessful is not required to pay damages.
Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the author's argument?

(A) Most people who are imprisoned for crimes would commit another crime if they are ever released from prison (stem does not talk about this in particular and hence the is not relevant to answer the question
(B) A person is morally culpable for his evil thoughts as well as for his evil deeds (may be its true but it does nothing to weaken the authors claim)
(C) There are more criminal laws on the books than there are civil laws on the books (stem does not talk about this in particular and hence the is not relevant to answer the question
(D) A criminal trial is significantly more costly to the state than a civil trial (stem does not talk about this in particular and hence the is not relevant to answer the question)
(E) The goal of the criminal trial is to punish the criminal, but the goal of the civil law is to compensate the victim

Please explain: I went with A, but this is not the answer.
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IMO E is the answer for this one
my line of reasoning and why other answers are wrong is mentioned below each choice

What is the OA for this

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There is something irrational about our system of laws. The 02 Jul 2008, 04:37
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E for me as well. Author is comparing two different types of crimes, and talking about the intent.
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There is something irrational about our system of laws. The 02 Jul 2008, 07:31
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I will go with E. Because other options seem irrelevant.
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There is something irrational about our system of laws. The 02 Jul 2008, 09:06
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Going for E, reasons have been explained before. Most crucially the only way to weaken is to justify why civil cases are softer than criminal cases. E successfully stresses that point.



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