Deck 7: Race and Sentencing in Search of Fairness and Justice

Question 1

The __________ suggests that jurors deviate from their fact-finding mission in cases in which the evidence against the defendant is weak or contradictory.

A)complacency hypothesis
B)liberation hypothesis
C)contradiction theory
D)nullification hypothesis

Answer 1

B

Question 2

____________________is a legally relevant factor that may very well be "race-linked. "

A)Place of residence
B)Education
C)Prior criminal record
D)Socioeconomic status

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Steven Spitzer used the term "_________" to characterize that segment of the deviant population that is viewed as particularly threatening and dangerous.

A)social prejudice
B)social inequality
C)social dynamics
D)social dynamite

Answer 3

D

Question 4

When racial disparity in sentencing occurs in some contexts, but not others, it is called:

A)internal discrimination 
B)subtle racial discrimination
C)institutional discrimination
D)deliberate discrimination

Question 5

_________________is one example of a "process-related" factor that interacts with race to explain the disparity in sentencing between minorities and whites.

A)Unemployment
B)Neighborhood composition
C)Gender
D)Pretrial detention

Question 6

Research comparing the sentences of illegal immigrants to U.S. citizens has found that illegal immigrants are more likely to be sentenced to prison, but are more likely to _____________________.

A)receive a shorter prison sentence
B)have their sentences suspended
C)be sentenced under guidelines
D)plead guilty as charged

Question 7

According to the research on disparity and sentencing, racial minorities are sentenced more harshly when the victim is ________________.

A)white
B)poor
C)female
D)young

Question 8

Studies conducted from the 1930s through the 1960s generally concluded that racial disparities in sentencing reflected __________ racial discrimination.

A)indirect
B)overt
C)economic
D)contextual

Question 9

Congress finally acted to reduce the crack/powder cocaine disparity under the _______________ Act of 2010.

A)Equal Sentencing
B)Fair Sentencing
C)Equal Drug
D)Cocaine Elimination

Question 10

Most sentencing research examines the sentences imposed on offenders convicted of:

A)drug offenses.
B)violent crimes.
C)felonies.
D)white collar crimes

Question 11

Sentencing studies from the 1930s through the 1960s usually used __________ statistical techniques.

A)bivariate
B)inadequate
C)unsophisticated
D)multivariate

Question 12

Steffensmeier and Demuth's study of race and sentencing in Pennsylvania revealed that ________________had the highest likelihood of being incarcerated.

A)African Americans
B)Whites
C)Hispanics
D)Asian Americans

Question 13

Ojmarrh Mitchell's meta-analysis of published research on race and sentencing found a larger effect size in jurisdictions without _________________.

A)full-time public defenders
B)pretrial release programs
C)structured sentencing guidelines
D)indeterminate sentencing

Question 14

To be fair, a sentencing scheme must allow the judge or jury _______ to shape sentences to fit individuals and their crimes.

A)discretion
B)power
C)time
D)discrimination

Question 15

There are _____ types of evidence of racial disparity in sentencing identified by the authors.

A)two
B)three
C)five
D)six

Question 16

Reviews of sentencing studies from the 1930s through the 1960s found that most were:

A)methodologically flawed.
B)methodologically sophisticated.
C)theoretically baseless.
D)too limited in scope.

Question 17

According to Zatz, the issue of __________ in sentencing "may well have been the major research inquiry for studies of sentencing in the 1970s and 1980s."

A)equity
B)economic discrimination
C)racial discrimination
D)racial disparity

Question 18

Recent studies examining racial disparity in sentencing have included _______________because of their popular image as "the model minority."

A)Hispanics
B)Asian Americans
C)Native Americans
D)Illegal Aliens

Question 19

Concerns about the changes in the racial/ethnic makeup of a community, coupled with stereotypes linking race and ethnicity to drug use and drug-related crime and violence, may lead to __________ among sentencing officials.

A)overt discrimination
B)contextual discrimination
C)unconscious racism
D)indirect discrimination

Question 20

The numerous studies of racial disparity in sentencing conducted during the 1970s and 1980s are notable for their __________ theoretical and methodological sophistication.

A)variation in
B)creativity in
C)uniformity in
D)low levels of

Question 21

Most of the research on sentencing examines the sentences imposed on offenders convicted of felonies.

Question 22

According to Wood and May, research has shown that whites are more likely to believe that serving time in prison is less of a hassle than alternative forms of sentencing.

Question 23

Research examining the interactions of legally irrelevant sentencing factors has found that race, gender, and age do not have significant direct effects on sentence severity.

Question 24

Reviews of sentencing studies conducted from the 1930s through the 1960s found that most were too limited in scope.

Question 25

Auerhahn suggested that the offender's race and ethnicity would not have a direct effect on the length of the sentence. Rather, she hypothesized that harsher treatment would be reserved for African American and Hispanic defendants who more closely matched stereotypes of:

A)dangerousness and threat.
B)past criminals.
C)illegal aliens.
D)flight risks.

Question 26

Whites may have traditionally received longer sentences for homicide because their victims were also likely to be white .

Question 27

The term "social predators" characterizes that segment of the deviant population that is viewed as particularly threatening and dangerous.

Question 28

It has been argued that "the recent blackening of America's prison population" is a result of America's war on drugs.

Question 29

The task of assessing the effect of race on sentencing is complicated by the _________, which critics contend has been fought primarily in minority communities.

A)war on poverty
B)war on terrorism
C)war on drugs
D)war on crime

Question 30

One possible explanation for racial disparity in sentencing is that minorities are more often subject to facially neutral laws and  __________  which proscribe more severe sentences or sentence enhancements.

Question 31

When they looked at the raw data, Steffensmeier and Demuth found that  __________ were sentenced to prison more often than either African Americans or  whites.

Question 32

Steffensmeier and his colleagues argue that judges develop a __________ shorthand based on stereotypes and attributions that are linked to offender characteristics.

Question 33

There is relatively little research testing for racial discrimination in the sentencing of individuals convicted of misdemeanor offenses. Because the lower courts where misdemeanor cases are handled usually have huge caseloads and informal, nonadversarial procedures for delivering what is often referred to as _______________, one might predict that the likelihood of racially disparate decisions would be even greater in these courts than in the more formal felony courts.

A)"American justice"
B)"procedural justice"
C)"real justice"
D)"assembly-line justice"

Question 34

Sentencing studies conducted from the 1930s through the 1960s usually used __________ statistical techniques.

Question 35

Some researchers, building on Kalven and Zeisel's "liberation hypothesis," assert that African Americans will be sentenced more harshly than whites in:

A)all cases
B)no cases
C)more serious cases
D)less serious cases

Question 36

Differential treatment of interracial and intraracial sexual assaults continued even after passage of the ________Amendment, which outlawed explicit statutory racial discrimination.

A)Nineteenth
B)Sixth
C)Fifth
D)Fourteenth

Question 37

The numerous studies of racial disparity in sentencing conducted during the 1970s and 1980s are notable for their low levels of theoretical and methodological sophistication.

Question 38

The liberation hypothesis suggests that jurors deviate from fact-finding in cases in which the evidence against the defendant is weak or contradictory.

Question 39

The __________ hypothesis suggests that jurors deviate from fact-finding in cases in which the evidence against the defendant is weak or contradictory.

Question 40

Judges have access to all relevant information when determining an offender's culpability or dangerousness to society at the time of imposing sentence.

Question 41

Discuss the five explanations for racial disparities in sentencing.

Question 42

Explain the changes in the sentencing differentiation between crack cocaine and powder cocaine.

Question 43

Explain how the liberation hypothesis affects decision making by sentencing officials.

Question 44

David Greenberg has suggested that some judges may be concerned about changes in the racial/ethnic makeup of a community and display __________  racism in their sentencing decisions.

Question 45

Studies conducted from the 1930s through the 1960s generally concluded that racial disparities in sentencing reflected __________ racial discrimination.

Question 46

Evaluate competing arguments regarding similarities and differences in the sentencing decisions of African American and white judges.

Question 47

Research comparing the sentencing decisions of African American and white state court judges has yielded ___________results.

Question 48

Reviews of sentencing studies conducted from the 1930s through the 1960s found that most were methodologically __________ .

Question 49

The term social __________ characterizes that segment of the deviant population that is viewed as particularly threatening and dangerous.

Question 50

Discuss the differential treatment of interracial and intraracial sexual assault.