Bunuel wrote:
To be sure, the death penalty would not directly deter those crimes of which the public stands most to fear - burglary, robbery, assault, rape. No serious proposal would make these into capital offenses. Yet even a symbolic blow against our current plague of crime would have its value. The reinstitution of the death penalty would represent the determination of society to take an unequivocal stand against all forms of crime. Crime rates, even for noncapital offenses, would respond accordingly.
Which of the following best expresses the point of the author's argument?
A. Reinstitution of the death penalty would be of value primarily because of its symbolic effect in alleviating the public's fear of crime.
B. The true value of the death penalty would be in direct proportion to the willingness of the society to vigorously prosecute those who have committed both capital and noncapital offenses.
C. As a symbolic act, the imposition of the death penalty for capital offenses would reaffirm the power of society over the lives of its citizens.
D. Reinstitution of the death penalty would deter criminals from committing capital crimes while in the course of committing noncapital offenses.
E. The benefits of reinstituting the death penalty would stem mainly from its indirect effects on criminals rather than from its direct effects.
Official Explanation:Reread the first and last sentences of the argument. The author admits the death penalty does not have a direct deterrent effect on noncapital crimes. However, he contends that it will have an indirect deterrent effect, which will lower the rates for these crimes.
Choice A is wrong because the author believes that the death penalty will actually affect crime rates, not just public fear of crime.
Choices B and D are plausible-sounding fabrications.
Choice C is a distortion of the ideas in the passage; the idea of "power of society over the lives of its citizens" is not mentioned or implied in the passage.
Choice E is the correct answer.