PrepTest 145, Section 1, Question 11
The following passage is adapted from an article(441 more words not shown)
The author ascribes which one(11 more words not shown)
- AA community's moral(19 more words not shown)
- BA community's moral(15 more words not shown)
- CA community's moral(16 more words not shown)
- DA community's moral(17 more words not shown)
- EA community's moral(13 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
The economists say cost and benefit should be the sole basis for penalties. Paragraph two makes the implication explicit: a community's moral reaction should not help determine the punishment. Keep the object of that claim clear. Setting a penalty and evaluating a corporation's morality are different tasks.
Working the answers
- A
They do not compare the reliability of moral judgments about community-wide harm with judgments about other crimes. Their stated position excludes moral opinion from penalty setting.
- B
“Only occasionally useful” still allows moral judgment to affect penalties sometimes. The economists' exclusive criterion does not leave that opening.
- C
No comparison is made between how severe community judgments are and how severe existing penalties are. This supplies a description of current practice rather than their rule for determining punishment.
- D
This is tempting because “irrelevant” sounds consistent with their rejection of moral judgment. But irrelevant to what? D says assessing the corporation's morality. The economists do not tell us that community moral judgments are useless for a moral assessment; they say the law should focus on earnings instead of conducting that assessment when setting penalties.
- ECorrect
This puts the exclusion in the right place: determining penalties. The text expressly says the community's assessment of a crime's moral offensiveness should not be a factor in that decision.
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