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Determining the most effective way to deter deliberate crimes, such as fraud, as opposed to impulsive crimes, such as crimes of

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问题     Determining the most effective way to deter deliberate crimes, such as fraud, as opposed to impulsive crimes, such as crimes of passion, is a problem currently being debated in the legal community. On one side of the debate aye those scholars who believe that deliberate crimes are a product of the influence of societal norms and institutions on individuals. These scholars suggest that changing people’s beliefs about crime, increasing the access of the most economically alienated individuals to economic institutions, and rehabilitating those convicted of this type of crime will reduce the crime rate. On the other side are those legal scholars who believe that the decision to commit a deliberate crime is primarily the result of individual choice. They suggest that increasing the fines and penalties associated with criminal activity, along with efficacious law enforcement is the best deterrence method. However, some recent legal scholarship has changed the nature of this debate by introducing an economic principle that shows that these two positions, far from being antithetical, are surprisingly complementary.
    The economic principle that reconciles the two positions is that of utility maximization, which holds that, given a choice of actions, rational individuals will choose the action that maximizes their anticipated overall satisfaction, or expected utility. The expected utility of an action is ascertained by determining the utilities of the possible outcomes of that action, weighing them according to the likelihood of each outcome’s coming to pass, and then adding up those weighted utilities. Using this economic framework, an individual’s decision to commit a crime can be analyzed as a rational economic choice.
    According to the utility maximization principle a person who responds rationally to economic incentives or disincentives will commit a crime if the expected utility from doing so, given the chance of getting caught, exceeds the expected utility from activity that is lawful. Within this framework the two crime-deterrence methods have the same overall effect. For instance, the recommendations on one side of the crime deterrence debate to increase penalties for crimes and strengthen law enforcement result in an increased likelihood of detection and punishment and impose an increased cost to the individual if detected and punished. This lowers the expected utility from criminal activity, thereby making a person less likely to choose to commit a deliberate crime. The recommendations on the other side of the debate, such as increasing the economic opportunities of individuals most alienated from economic institutions, also affect the utility equation. All else being equal, these types of policies will effectively increase the expected utility from lawful activity. This economic analysis demonstrates that the two positions are not fundamentally in conflict and that the optimal approach to crime deterrence would include elements of both deterrence strategies.
The passage suggests that the author would be likely to agree with each of the following statements EXCEPT:
选项 A、The rate of deliberate crimes is likely to increase if the access of individuals to economic institutions decreases.
B、The rate of deliberate crimes will tend to vary inversely with the level of law enforcement.
C、The rate at which criminals return to criminal activity is likely to increase if efforts to rehabilitate them are ended.
D、The rate of deliberate crimes is likely to decrease if the expected utility of lawful activities decreases.
答案D
解析 本题考查考生对辩论双方对于蓄意犯罪的观点以及结合效用最大化原理的应用的理解。首先要明确的是，辩论双方的说法都是正确的，只是侧重点不同，看似冲突，其实作者用一个通用原理显示二者是互补的关系，可以并存。接着，再对应选项看原文的描述。[A]和[C]选项同属于辩论一方的观点，根据文章第一段，这一方认为蓄意犯罪是社会规范和机构对个人影响的产物的学者们。这些学者认为，改变人们对犯罪的看法，增加经济上最边缘个体对经济机构的使用，以及改造因这种类型犯罪而被定罪的人，将降低犯罪率。那么反之，如果减少了经济上最边缘个体对经济机构的使用，或者不去改造因这种类型犯罪而被定罪的人，那么犯罪率将增加，因此，[A][C]都是正确说法。[B]属于辩论另一方的观点，辩论的另一方是认为进行蓄意犯罪的决定主要是个人选择的结果的法律学者们。他们认为，增加对犯罪活动进行的罚款和处罚，连同有效的法律执行是最好的防止手段。也可以说，法律执行力度越大，蓄意犯罪几率越低，二者成反比关系，因此[C]也正确。[D]选项是作者运用效用最大化原理对蓄意犯罪的解释，最后一段第一句指出，根据效用最大化原则，考虑到被抓获的可能性，如果犯罪的期望效用超过了守法行为的预期效用，那么一个理性对待经济奖惩的人会选择犯罪。可见，如果守法行为的预期效用减少，那么蓄意犯罪的几率会增加，而不是建少，因此[D]说法错误。需要注意的是，题目问的是作者会同意以下所有说法“除了”(EXCEPT)，也就是问作者不同意哪一个说法，所以只需要选出错误的说法即可。
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