PrepTest 156, Section 3, Question 5
Two competing demands we make of the law(445 more words not shown)
The passage indicates that which(17 more words not shown)
- AIt cannot be(11 more words not shown)
- BIt derives from(7 more words not shown)
- CIt adapts too(4 more words not shown)
- DIt takes into(13 more words not shown)
- EIt is based(8 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
“Merely procedural” means that following the rules hasn't been shown to deliver a fair result. The second paragraph makes the distinction explicit: justice is inadequate if it cannot produce outcomes recognizable as fair and equitable. We should look for that missing guarantee, not describe the context-sensitive system the author wants instead.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
A system can apply its procedures consistently and still fail to produce a fair outcome in a particular social context. That is why the author won't rely on procedural justice alone. The defect concerns what the rules deliver, not simply whether officials follow them.
- B
Relating to subjective experience as well as objective reason is a requirement the author gives for substantive justice. It doesn't describe the limitation of a system that delivers only procedural justice.
- C
The criticism is that rigid rules fail to adapt adequately to social reality. Adapting too readily would be a different problem, in the opposite direction.
- D
Taking people's social and economic circumstances into account is the sensitivity the author says extreme formalism lacks. This describes what the merely procedural approach is missing.
- E
A common understanding of fairness and justice supplies the standard for accepting a substantive outcome. The author doesn't establish that merely applying procedures ensures that connection. This answer supplies the missing substantive basis rather than the characteristic of procedural justice asked for.
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