After Means Because Of
This trap appears as a wrong-answer choice in 1 active question. Spotting how it is built is the repair: read each example's “why it's attractive” before the “why it's wrong.”
Subject distribution
- Criminal Law1
Example wrong choices
21867_psalm_puzzle_booth · CRIMINAL_LAW · Choice BYes, because Peter was committing a misdemeanor when he operated the puzzle booth.
Why it's attractive
The student sees a real misdemeanor and feels the unlawful-act box is checked. The breaker is that the answer never links the misdemeanor to Ruth’s death.
Why it's wrong
It proves the misdemeanor predicate but skips the cause link to the death.
Spot it next time
Ask whether the misdemeanor produced the death.
21867_psalm_puzzle_booth · CRIMINAL_LAW · Choice CNo, because misdemeanor manslaughter applies only to violent misdemeanors.
Why it's attractive
The student reaches for a narrower category because violent-only sounds like a sophisticated limitation. The breaker is that the case turns on causation, not a violent-only threshold.
Why it's wrong
It substitutes a violent-only threshold for the causation problem.
Spot it next time
Prefer the answer that uses the actual death mechanism.
21867_psalm_puzzle_booth · CRIMINAL_LAW · Choice DYes, because any death after a misdemeanor is involuntary manslaughter.
Why it's attractive
The student treats sequence as enough because a misdemeanor came before a death. The breaker is the absolute word any, which erases the cause requirement.
Why it's wrong
It says any death after a misdemeanor is enough, which erases causation.
Spot it next time
Cut absolute chronology language unless the law is truly categorical.
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