Multiple choice

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?

  1. Most persons who are imprisoned for crimes will commit another crime if they are ever released from prison.

  2. A person is morally culpable for his evil thoughts as well as for his evil deeds.

  3. There are more criminal laws on the books than there are civil laws on the books.

  4. A criminal trial is considerably more costly to the state than a civil trial.

  5. The goal of the criminal law is to punish the criminal, but the goal of the civil law is to compensate the victim.
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E Correct answer
Explanation

(5) The point of the passage is that there is a seeming contradiction in our body of laws. Sometimes a person pays for his attempted misdeeds, and other times he does not pay for them. If there could be found a go5od reason for this difference, then the contradiction could be explained away. This is just what (5) does. It points out that the law treats the situations differently because it has different goals: Sometimes we drive fast because we are in a hurry; other times we drive slowly because we want to enjoy the scenery.

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