#15 - Must Be True

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation
(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=14213)

The correct answer choice is (B)

This choice asks for meaning of the author’s reference to the “state’s chip” on line 29. The author
says that the wrongness of a blackmailer’s threat to disclose illegal activity stems from the fact that
the blackmailer is using the state’s interest in discovering criminal activity to his or her own benefit.

Answer choice (A): The chip does not refer to the authority to determine what is defined as criminal,
so this cannot be the right answer choice.

Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer choice. The state’s “chip” refers to the state’s
legitimate interest in learning of such crimes.

Answer choice (C): There is no reference to the possibility of stopping crimes before they occur, so
this choice should be ruled out of contention.

Answer choice (D): There is no suggestion in the passage that the state should exclusively rely on
private citizens for important information, and this is not the meaning of the “chip” discussed at the
end of the first passage.

Answer choice (E): The author makes no reference to the state’s legal ability to compel citizens to
testify.

[mpoulson]

Hello,

I have trouble determining why A is wrong. I can see support for B, but I don't see clearly why A is incorrect. Is it because the blackmailer doesn't have the ability to bargain with the state's authority? Thank you.

- Micah

[Adam Tyson]

I think you're on to something there. To me, the main problem with A is that in this passage blackmail is not about who gets to decide what constitutes a crime - the blackmailer isn't inserting himself in any way into that decision. Instead, the blackmailer is taking advantage of the competing interests of the state, which wants to uncover the crime, and the criminal, who wants to keep it hidden. B is a better description of the government's side of that equation.

[LustingFor!L]

I was between B and E and ended up going with E. Is that because I probably used my outside knowledge and picked what was more likely to be true in real life but not supported by passed?? I think I might have watched too much Law & Order SVU haha

[Luke Haqq]

haha--yes, I think your intuition is right. (E) is certainly quite specific, so for something like that to be the right answer, you'd need a clearer signal in the passage that you could point to. (B) gets across what Passage A talks about, for example, around lines 15-20. Some blackmail statutes are overbroad, but states rely on a prosecutor's discretion not to bring the frivolous cases. This is a general way of suggesting something like (B), that the author of Passage A considers a state to have interests in knowing about crimes that go on within its jurisdiction.