Legislator: The recently released crime statistics clearly show that the new laws requiring stiffer punishments for ...

AmMaSu on October 18, 2019

Explain answer choice E

Greetings, could you please explain answer choice E in relation to the stimulus? Thank you!

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SamA on November 8, 2019

Hello @AmMaSu,

Absolutely!

The legislator has concluded that the new laws have reduced crime. What is her support? Since they were enacted, crime has decreased by one-fourth in the areas covered by the laws.

The analyst disputes that the new laws led to the drop in crime. Why? Because areas without the new laws also had a one-fourth decrease. This implies that some other factor may have caused the crime rate decrease in all of these areas.

In terms of strategy, what is the analyst doing? He is saying that the legislator made an unfounded claim of cause and effect.

Let's look at E. It matches the analyst's response. The legislator did draw a conclusion about cause and effect. The legislator failed to consider that the drop in crime (alleged affect) occurred without the new laws (alleged cause.)

aseikhon11 on August 12, 2020

Why is B wrong? I was between answer choices B & E and they both look similar to me