Exam 8: Deviance and Social Control

Discuss the medicalization of deviance and how Thomas Szasz would respond to this concept.

Shaming is most effective as a sanction when it is used by a formal organization such as a court of common pleas or other public tribunal.

Official crime statistics gathered by the police and FBI can be relied upon for their objectivity and accuracy for measuring crime in their respective jurisdictions.

What are the two most significant "anchoring devices" that insulate a person from a life of crime and imprisonment?

Conflict theorists classify the few who own the means of production as ________.

Stigma, characteristics that discredit people, includes violations of norms of ability and violations of norms of appearance.

What is the relativity of deviance?

Functionalists would contend that the growing crime rates among women are the result of changing social location and gender roles giving women greater access to illegitimate opportunities.

The crime with the highest increase among women between 1992 and 2008 was ________.

Although African Americans are disproportionately represented in the state prison population, the majority of prisoners are white.

John desires the best things in life - a fast car, designer clothes, and membership in exclusive clubs. But rather than work his way through the system, he has discovered he can have all these things by selling crack cocaine in the inner city. How would Merton classify John?

Sociologically, an act cannot be classified as deviance if it does not cause physical or emotional harm to another individual.

What are the three components that make up the criminal justice system?

The total prison and jail population in the United States equals approximately ________ people, which is one out of every 135 Americans.

Based on differential association theory, what is the most likely background shared by juvenile delinquents?

Crime "in the suites" (white collar crime) actually costs the American taxpayer more in terms of dollars lost than "crime in the streets."

Based on the research of Martín Sánchez-Jankowski, what are the primary reasons urban male youth join gangs?

How do biological and psychological theories of deviance differ from sociological theories? What are some of the major theories aligned with these disciplines?

Define recidivism and identify the recidivism rate for violent offenders three years after they have been released from prison.

The ________ theory developed by Robert Merton is based on the idea that most people want to attain cultural goals, but not everyone has the legitimate means of achieving them.