PrepTest 144, Section 2, Question 6
Lawyer: In addition to any other penalties, convicted(42 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(14 more words not shown)
- AThe penalties for(20 more words not shown)
- BThe overall penalty(16 more words not shown)
- CA surcharge intended(19 more words not shown)
- DA criminal should(27 more words not shown)
- EConvicted thieves should(15 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Who pays the extra $30, and whom does it help?
Every convicted criminal pays, but the services go to victims of violent crimes. The lawyer objects to making a nonviolent offender, such as a petty thief, contribute to those services. The thought is that this person didn't commit the more serious kind of crime whose victims the fund serves.
What we’re looking for
We might think helping those victims is a good use of the money. That doesn't answer the lawyer's fairness objection, and our own policy preference isn't the task. We're asked for a principle that supports the lawyer's reasoning. Look for a rule connecting what someone can fairly be charged for with the kind of crime that person committed.
Working the answers
- A
Deterring crime is different from deciding whether this particular charge is fair to nonviolent offenders. Even a penalty that discouraged crime could collect money from people who, under the lawyer's view, shouldn't have to fund these services. A doesn't address that objection.
- B
The same additional $30 doesn't make the overall penalties equal. A violent offender might also receive a much longer prison sentence than a petty thief. The argument explicitly says the surcharge comes on top of other penalties, so a rule about the total punishment doesn't establish that this shared surcharge is unfair.
- C
This concerns how the proceeds are spent. The lawyer's objection concerns who must pay them. Even if every dollar reached victims' services, the lawyer would still object to collecting the money from nonviolent offenders. We aren't given evidence that some proceeds go elsewhere anyway.
- DCorrect
This says a criminal should not have to pay for services for victims of more serious kinds of crimes than the criminal committed. Applied to the lawyer's contrast, it supports the objection to making a petty thief pay for services for victims of violent crime. It supplies the fairness rule missing between the description of the surcharge and the judgment that it is unfair.
- E
A fine based on the stolen property's value could be large or small. That doesn't tell us whether thieves should also fund services for victims of violent crime. E addresses the amount associated with the theft, leaving the lawyer's objection to this separate surcharge unanswered.
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