Barraland’s prison population , pls come Titan or instruct

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In each of the past five years, Barraland's prison population has increased. Yet, according to official government statistics, for none of those years has there been either an increase in the number of criminal cases brought to trial, or an increase in the rate at which convictions have been obtained. Clearly, therefore, the percentage of people convicted of crimes who are being given prison sentences is on the increase.





Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?





In Barraland the range of punishments that can be imposed instead of a prison sentence is wide.
Over the last ten years, overcrowding in the prisons of Barraland has essentially been eliminated as a result of an ambitious program of prison construction.
Ten years ago, Barraland reformed its criminal justice system, imposing longer minimum sentences for those crimes for which a prison sentence had long been mandatory.
Barraland has been supervising convicts on parole more closely in recent years, with the result that parole violations have become significantly less frequent.
The number of people in Barraland who feel that crime is on the increase is significantly greater now than it was five years ago.

Answer: C n

I think it's B because it weakens the passage, why C ?????

Pls explain me , thank you
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by shady14 » Fri Sep 30, 2011 7:14 am
In B, the prison has become less crowded as a result of a program of prison construction, but that still doesn't have anything to do the population of the prisoners. The program just made the prison less croweded (presumably by making the prison itself bigger).

In C, it's showing how the number of prisoners can increase OTHER than what it stated in the argument (percentage of people convicted of crimes who are being given prison sentences is on the increase).
If C is true (prisoners who got into prison stay longer), then what's stated on the argument (percentage of people convicted of crimes who are being given prison sentences is on the increase) doesn't necessarily have to be true. Therefore, C weakens the arguments.

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by sl750 » Fri Sep 30, 2011 12:26 pm
Answer C attacks the conclusion. B does not affect the conclusion as it is referring to over crowding.

The conclusion is, "the percentage of people convicted of crimes who are being given prison sentences is on the increase". We can look for another reason why the prison population is on the rise. That is explained in C. The prison sentence has increased, this means a prisoner spends longer time in jail