PrepTest 90+, Section 2, Question 9
Scholar: The purpose of a law is to deter certain actions by threatening to punish those performing the actions. This threat works only if potential violators believe that they are likely to be punished. But the likelihood that someone will be apprehended and punished for committing a prohibited act decreases as the number of types of prohibited actions increases. Therefore, a successful legal system prohibits only those few behaviors that citizens find absolutely intolerable.
Scholar: The purpose of a law is to deter certain actions by threatening to punish those performing the actions. This threat works only if potential violators believe that they are likely to be punished. But the likelihood that someone will be apprehended and punished for committing a prohibited act decreases as the number of types of prohibited actions increases. Therefore, a successful legal system prohibits only those few behaviors that citizens find absolutely intolerable.
Scholar: The purpose of a law is to deter certain actions by threatening to punish those performing the actions. This threat works only if potential violators believe that they are likely to be punished. But the likelihood that someone will be apprehended and punished for committing a prohibited act decreases as the number of types of prohibited actions increases. Therefore, a successful legal system prohibits only those few behaviors that citizens find absolutely intolerable.
Scholar: The purpose of a law is to deter certain actions by threatening to punish those performing the actions. This threat works only if potential violators believe that they are likely to be punished. But the likelihood that someone will be apprehended and punished for committing a prohibited act decreases as the number of types of prohibited actions increases. Therefore, a successful legal system prohibits only those few behaviors that citizens find absolutely intolerable.
Which one of the following most accurately describes the role played in the scholar's argument by the statement that the purpose of a law is to deter certain actions by threatening to punish those performing the actions?
It is offered in support of the implicit conclusion that a legal system needs a significant number of police officers.
It is the conclusion of the argument.
It is a premise of the argument.
It is an intermediate conclusion.
It is the view that the argument as a whole is designed to discredit.
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