PrepTest 122, Section 2, Question 2
Statistical studies show that last year there was(36 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(11 more words not shown)
- ALonger prison sentences(18 more words not shown)
- BAs in the(18 more words not shown)
- CMost people can(12 more words not shown)
- DPeople who feel(16 more words not shown)
- EThe proportion of(15 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Why are people more afraid when violent crime is going down?
I can imagine reasons for the drop: perhaps a policy changed, or people had fewer opportunities to commit crimes. But explaining the drop alone won't explain the surprise. We have to account for rising fear at the same time.
Maybe people are hearing much more about violent crime. Imagine watching repeated coverage of a plane crash. The vivid event could make flying feel dangerous even without evidence that flying has become more dangerous. People's impressions don't have to track the underlying numbers.
What we’re looking for
That's my prediction for this discrepancy question: something has made crime seem more threatening even as the measured rate falls. Media coverage is one possible explanation. We need an answer that helps those two trends coexist, not an answer that only tells us why crime fell or why anyone might fear it.
Working the answers
- A
This could explain the drop in crime, but why did anxiety rise? Longer sentences don't supply the missing connection between a falling crime rate and increasing fear. We still have the same puzzle about people's reactions.
- B
The media are underreporting anxiety about crime. That is different from underreporting or overreporting crime itself. Knowing whether journalists describe people's fear doesn't tell us what made that fear increase in the first place.
- C
This makes the surprise harder to explain. If people accurately assess their risk, we'd expect their perceptions to reflect the drop in violent crime. C doesn't tell us why anxiety nevertheless increased.
- D
I can understand why people in dangerous areas would be particularly worried. But we're comparing last year with the year before, not high-crime neighborhoods with low-crime neighborhoods. D doesn't tell us what changed to make public fear rise while the overall crime rate fell. A fact about where the most anxious people live doesn't explain that trend.
- ECorrect
A much larger share of violent crimes is now making the news. That gives us a reason the public's picture of crime could become more alarming even as the actual rate falls. More intensive attention to the crimes that do occur can keep violence in front of people and heighten their fear.
Be careful: a larger proportion covered doesn't by itself guarantee a larger total number of reports. We don't know the size of the drop in crime. But E does give us a relevant change in the coverage, making a gap between people's impressions and the crime statistics much easier to understand.
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