Deck 5: Courts

Question 1

The Bureau of Justice Statistics has reported that more than one million adults are convicted of felonies, most of which are handled in ______ court.

A) federal
B) state
C) local
D) district

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which of the following groups have the least amount of confidence in the courts?

A) Blacks
B) Whites
C) Latinos
D) Asians

Answer 2

A

Question 3

According to the Keiser Family Foundation, ______ Americans accounted for the majority of opioid deaths in the United States.

A) White
B) Black
C) Asian
D) Hispanic

Answer 3

A

Question 4

While bail is not guaranteed by the Constitution, the ______ Amendment does state that when given, it should not be "excessive."

A) First
B) Second
C) Fourth
D) Eighth

Question 5

Which U.S. Supreme Court case ruled that all felony defendants have a right to counsel?

A) Swain v. Alabama
B) Gideon v. Wainwright
C) Powell v. Alabama
D) Argersinger v. Hamlin

Question 6

A defendant receive an emergency pretrial release due to ______.

A) drug treatment
B) poor health
C) jail overcrowding
D) patterns in prior court appearances

Question 7

In a study of Caddo Parrish, Louisiana, researchers concluded that backstrikes were ______.

A) race-based
B) used in over half of all cases
C) race-neutral
D) rare

Question 8

Bail statutes require judges to consider risk factors that include which of the following?

A) prior record
B) patterns in prior court appearances
C) employment status
D) all of these

Question 9

Which racial group receives the most favorable plea bargains according to studies involving misdemeanor marijuana arrests performed in New York between 2010 and 2011?

A) White
B) Black
C) Asian
D) Hispanic

Question 10

Federal funding for drug courts was highest in what year?

A) 1994
B) 2014
C) 1984
D) 1974

Question 11

The U.S. court system is referred to as a ______ system.

A) double-court
B) dual-court
C) binary-court
D) two-court

Question 12

From 1981 to 1990, African Americans and Hispanics had felony charges reduced to misdemeanors ______ of the time.

A) less than 20%
B) 25%
C) 40%
D) above 50%

Question 13

The American court system owes much to the ______ justice system.

A) French
B) Spanish
C) English
D) German

Question 14

Which of the following is NOT among the 10 components of a drug court?

A) Participants must receive regular drug and alcohol tests.
B) Participants should have ongoing interaction with a judge.
C) Drug courts must have as little interaction with the outside community as possible.
D) Drug courts must periodically measure their effectiveness.

Question 15

The first drug court was created in Florida in ______.

A) 1979
B) 1989
C) 1999
D) 2009

Question 16

Drug courts are generally ______ alternatives, like prison and residential treatment centers.

A) more expensive than
B) less expensive than
C) equal in cost to
D) variant in cost by state

Question 17

Tribal court jurisdiction required that ______ is/are Native American.

A) only the offender
B) both the offender and victim
C) only the victim
D) none of these

Question 18

Which of the following courts would have jurisdiction over misdemeanor case involving a Native American suspect and a non-Native American victim?

A) state
B) federal
C) tribal
D) district

Question 19

______ occurs when a juror believes that the presented evidence in a trial establishes the guilt of the defendant but still votes to acquit.

A) Jury nullification
B) Jury cancellation
C) Jury counter-decision
D) Jury exoneration

Question 20

______ is the final step before reaching the U.S. Supreme Court.

A) Trial court
B) U.S. District Court
C) U.S. Court of Appeals
D) U.S. magistrate court

Question 21

In 1997, GAO evaluations showed that drug court programs had an average of ______ completion.

A) 1%
B) 43%
C) 70%
D) above 75%

Question 22

U.S. District Courts are trial courts that hear both civil and criminal cases.

Question 23

"Plantation justice" afforded slaves equal justice.

Question 24

The indigenous justice paradigm values written records.

Question 25

Crimes committed by non-Native Americans on reservations handled the same as crimes committed by Native Americans on reservations.

Question 26

According to recent research, drug court participants tend to have lower recidivism rates than nondrug court participants.

Question 27

Briefly explain Paul Butler's rationale for advocating that jurors use jury nullification in certain cases.

Question 28

Freiburger and Hilinski found that once economic variables were included in the study, Black defendants are more likely to be detained because of ______.

A) their race
B) aggressive behavior
C) lack of education
D) lack of funds necessary for release

Question 29

Race and class did not matter in Colonial American courts.

Question 30

What case declared that race or gender could not be the deciding factor for jury selection?

A) Batson v. Kentucky
B) Swain v. Alabama
C) Hernandez v. New York
D) Powell v. Alabama

Question 31

Friedman (1993) noted that the keystone of Asian policy was immigration law, exclusion, and ______.

A) transportation
B) deportation
C) due process
D) advocacy

Question 32

Early in American history, plea bargaining was frowned upon by justice system officials.

Question 33

The "zoot suit riots" occurred in the aftermath of the ______ case.

A) Sleepy Creek
B) Lazy Creek
C) Lazy Lagoon
D) Sleepy Lagoon

Question 34

K. Taylor (2011) reported that public defenders in Cumberland County, New Jersey, handle about ______ of all criminal cases, but there are twice as many lawyers and more than 7 times as many investigators working on criminal cases in the prosecutor's office than the public defender's office.

A) 15%
B) 25%
C) 50%
D) 90%

Question 35

The total expense for indigent defense services in 2012 was ______.

A) about $500 million
B) about $1 billion
C) about $2 billion
D) about $3 billion

Question 36

According to Krauss and Schulman, the national acquittal rate in 1995 was ______.

A) 10%
B) 28%
C) 50%
D) 78%

Question 37

Marlowe, Hardin, and Fox (2016) provided a national report on drug courts and other problem-solving courts. They found that there were ______ drug court graduations in 2014.

A) fewer than 15,000
B) approximately 10,000
C) more than 25,000
D) in excess of 50,000

Question 38

The focus of drug courts is on punishment.

Question 39

The majority of the research on public defender offices finds that there is equity between the resources provided to public defenders and the prosecutor's office.

Question 40

Race can be considered when removing a juror from the jury pool.

Question 41

Provide an argument either in support of or opposition to jury nullification.

Question 42

Briefly explain why some believe that racial and ethnic minorities are at a disadvantage in the plea bargaining process.

Question 43

Briefly explain the historical experience in the courts of one racial or ethnic group.

Question 44

Briefly explain the 1965 case of Swain v. Alabama.

Question 45

The Constitution requires that citizens be tried before a jury of their peers. Consider what a jury of your peers might look like. What are the characteristics of your peers? Is it possible for a jury of your peers to be established by the current jury selection process?

Question 46

Give an example of why peremptory challenges should either be eliminated or modified.

Question 47

Briefly explain why drug courts tend to be more effective at reducing recidivism than incarcerating drug offenders.

Question 48

Briefly explain some of the issues that make it difficult for racial and ethnic minorities to serve as jurors.

Question 49

Briefly explain the distinct differences between the indigenous paradigm and the American justice paradigm.

Question 50

Briefly explain some of the problems with the public defense system.