Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Hard

PT109 S3 Q14 Explanation

Many people think that the

A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Logical Reasoning question.

TopicsRole

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Full official LSAT questions are available through LawHub. This page provides LSAT Lab's explanation, strategy, and review tools without republishing the full official question.

Stimulus

Many people think that the only way to remedy the problem of crime is by increasing the number of police officers, but recent statistics show that many major cities had similar ratios diverged widely in their crime rates.

What this question is testing

Role

Argument

The argument pushes back on a common belief — that more police is the only way to reduce crime. The author cites statistics: cities with similar police-to-citizen ratios still had very different crime rates.

Evaluate

What does that statistic actually prove? Not "police don't matter at all." Not "police levels don't affect crime at all." It just proves that police count isn't the only thing affecting crime — because if it were, then matching police levels would produce matching crime rates, but we see divergence.

So the statistics are doing measured work: undercutting the strong claim that police are the sole factor, without claiming police are irrelevant.

Goal

Find the answer that captures this measured "police count isn't the only influence" role. Watch for traps that overstate to "no influence at all" or "no relation."

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question
14.

The statistics cited function in the

Answer choices

  1. Too Strong5% picked this

    establish that the number of police officers does not need to

    The statistics don't establish that the police force doesn't need to be increased. They show police count isn't the only factor — which is compatible with police needing to be increased anyway. Inferring "no need to increase" goes beyond what the data supports.

  2. Opposite1% picked this

    illustrate the need for increasing the number of police officers in

    The author is arguing against the view that more police is the only way. Saying the statistics illustrate the need for more police gets the argument backwards. The author cites them to push back on that very claim.

  3. Too Strong7% picked this

    prove that there are factors other than the number of police officers that are more important in

    "Prove" overstates the evidence, and "more important" goes beyond what the statistics show. The data shows different crime rates with similar police levels — that suggests other factors matter, but doesn't prove they're more important than police count. The argument's claim is more measured.

  4. Too Strong18% picked this

    demonstrate that there is no relation between the number of police officers and

    "No relation" is way too strong. The statistics are consistent with police levels having a real impact alongside other factors. The data shows police count isn't the only influence; it doesn't show police count has no influence. The argument doesn't demonstrate "no relation."

  5. Correct70% picked this

    suggest that the number of police officers is not the only influence on

    Why this is right

    This captures the measured role exactly. The statistics — same police levels producing different crime rates — suggest there's more to crime than just police count. They don't prove police are unimportant; they don't prove no relation; they just suggest police count isn't the only influence. That's the right level of strength for this evidence.

    Skill tested: Role · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

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