Insanity at the time of the offense, we are told, relieves

Question

Insanity at the time of the offense, we are told, relieves the offender of criminal responsibility. This may mean either that “insanity” is to serve as evidence that precludes establishing—by leaving in doubt—some material element of an offense, or that “insanity” is to serve as a defense to a crime, even though each of its elements can be established beyond doubt, to protect a preferred value threatened by the imposition of an authorized sanction.

Which of the following may be assumed from the preceding passage?

Insanity at the time of trial is insufficient to deter conviction

Sanity may be a necessary and material element for the commission of a crime

The defense of insanity may be unnecessary since there are other more sophisticated means of proving innocence today.

The question of insanity has little bearing on the question of criminal responsibility and conviction

The insanity defense should be abolished as we have seen continued evidence of its abuse

amma4u · Answer

The best way to tackle this is split the question stem:
So here it states Insanity ..blah blah..relieves blah blah. This happens in two ways
1.) is to serve as evidence that precludes establishing
2.) is to serve as a defense to a crime

I am not agreeing with the OA because the sentence does not state any hint for sanity required, but "material element for the commission of a crime" is stated in the question stem which can be used as an assumption.
I went for E....remove insanity defense method.

Can an expert explain in detail how to assume B completely?

shrive555 · Answer

i also went for D 
the explanation for choice B is given as

Since insanity, as discussed, may preclude establishing a crime or as a defense to the commission of that crime, it can be assumed that the contrary state of mind— sanity—may be an indispensable element. The reader is left with the strong impression that sanity is an important aspect of criminality. (B) is the best choice as it speaks directly to the issue of sanity and its role in analyzing the elements of a crime.

shrive555 · Answer

E is not correct because No judgment is made in the paragraph involving maintaining or abolishing the insanity defense. This choice attempts to describe a personal opinion about this defense

IanStewart · Answer

That passage is barely in English. Parts of it could make for a good sentence correction question (the reference 'each of its' is completely ambiguous), and the conclusion, 'to protect a preferred value threatened by the imposition of an authorized sanction' is simply meaningless. Where is this question from?

EkaterinaZ · Answer

B.
In this case it`s better to exclude.

A -out of scope
B - sounds good because it resembles the sentence after 'either'
C - out of scope
D - out of scope
E cannot be an assumptions, for assumptions do not usually contain recommendations

Sashamm · Answer

This question really doesn't make sense. If Insanity can serve as a defense to a crime, even though each of its elements can be established beyond doubt, then how can sanity 
be a necessary and material element for the commission of a crime? How can insanity serve as a defense to a crime for which sanity as an element has been established beyond doubt? 
A on the other hand, is a better option because it is clear that insanity must exist at the time of the offence.

Although: B's saving grace is the word 'may' while the problem with A is that insanity at the time of trial doesn't preclude insanity at the time of offence.

Bangravi2711 · Answer

The conclusion here is that Insanity can be a defence to the crime committed. So if we   REVERSE  the option B and say that sanity is unjustified or not a necessary material element during the commission of the crime , then it distorts the conclusion.
Hence , by applying the method of negation (to arrive at a correct assumption answer choice), correct answer would be B

Insanity at the time of the offense, we are told, relieves

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Insanity at the time of the offense, we are told, relieves

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