Crimes involving deception are on the increase at the same time that crimes of violence seem to be decreasing. Law enforcement techniques in the past have focused primarily on the prevention and detection of violent crime. However, it is now clear that new techniques are required to combat crimes such as Internet fraud. Law enforcement agencies will have to focus on recruiting, hiring, and training a larger proportion of computer literate officers if they hope to keep up with modern criminals. Most states carefully regulate the possession of exotic wild animals as pets. Specially trained officers often raid illicit breeding operations and seize proscribed animals such as chimpanzees and tigers. Although these species are capable of becoming dangerous, individuals are still drawn to them as pets. The fact that their possession is unlawful is an inadequate deterrent. Since prohibitions on ownership are clearly not eliminating the black market in exotic species, the focus should turn to education of the public regarding the dangers of such pets. Wildlife biologists report that the population of the Northern Rock Fish is reaching dangerously low levels. The decrease in population is attributed to over fishing by unethical anglers who ignore laws regulating the size and number of the species that may be taken from rivers and streams. Poachers know that there are insufficient numbers of enforcement officers to create a credible threat of apprehension. It is obvious to authorities that the only way to save the species is to implement a total ban on the fishing of Northern Rock Fish immediately. When surveyed in prison, the majority of convicted violent criminals report that they have made decisions during their criminal careers to avoid at least one potential victim because of fears that the potential victim might be armed. Even when the criminals themselves are armed, they tend to prefer unarmed victims. Add to this the fact that statistics reveal that complete bans on private weapons in some jurisdictions have failed to eliminate violent crime and the fact that many jurisdictions with a high proportion of private weapon ownership enjoy a very low crime rate, and one may conclude that public policy should favor the private ownership of weapons.
Internet users justifiably fear identity fraud and other online crimes. The attribute that most Internet crimes have in common is anonymity. Criminals hide behind screen names when perpetrating their crimes and feel safe from apprehension and punishment in doing so because other Internet users cannot learn their true identities, and jurisdictional and budget issues make it difficult for law enforcement agencies to enforce existing laws. Clearly, the only way to reduce such crime in the future is to create a system that requires Internet users to provide their true identities and full contact information in a way that is visible to all other users.
The flawed pattern of reasoning in the argument above is most similar to which of the following?