Deck 2: The Nature of Crime and Victimization

Question 1

The consensus view of crime believes that criminal law is structured to reflect the preferences and opinions of people who hold social power.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

The crime rate in the United States has been steadily increasing over the past 20 years.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

While there are differences in how crime data portrays information, the crime patterns and trends the data shows are often similar.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Young people face a much higher rate of victimization than older people, especially before the age of 25.

Question 5

Deteriorating neighborhoods attract law violators; this phenomenon is known as the relative deprivation hypothesis.

Question 6

The Uniform Crime Report (UCR) and National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) have conflicting views on whether the number of violent victimizations in 2015 increased compared to 2014.

Question 7

Someone's likelihood to be victimized is not affected by whether or not they are married.

Question 8

Arrest and punishment is the most effective way to deter chronic offenders from committing further crimes.

Question 9

The Uniform Crime Report (UCR) provides information on the personal characteristics of offenders, such as attitudes, values, and beliefs, that is not available from any other sources.

Question 10

Teenage gang members are responsible for a large proportion of all violent offenses committed during the adolescent years.

Question 11

Short-term economic conditions usually do not affect criminals who are typically unemployed or underemployed.

Question 12

Crime rates are highest in the winter months when criminals can prey on victims with few other witnesses around to catch them.

Question 13

The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) requires local police agencies to provide a brief account of each incident and arrest, including the incident, victim, and offender information.

Question 14

Research shows that immigrants are much more crime prone than the general population, so that as the number of immigrants increases, per capita crime rates increase dramatically.

Question 15

Cultural deviance theory purports that subcultural values are handed down from one generation to the next and the young people who reject this subculture and its values are more likely to join gangs and violate the law.

Question 16

Chronic offenders are serious and persistent offenders who are responsible for a small portion of a serious criminal behavior.

Question 17

One reason anticrime advocates are against gun ownership is that offenders of any crime are more likely to possess a gun than nonoffenders.

Question 18

The availability of legalized abortion is one factor that could play a role in declining crime rates.

Question 19

Self-report studies target the "dark figure of crime" that would not be reflected in official statistics.

Question 20

Larceny is the most common offense for which elderly females are arrested.

Question 21

The National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) is slated to replace which type of reporting crime data?

A) National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)
B) Uniform Crime Reports (UCR)
C) Self-report surveys
D) Monitoring the Future study

Question 22

Biosocial theory would look at bipolar disorder and whether it has a role in causing criminal behavior.

Question 23

The law is the instrument that enables the wealthy to maintain their position of power and to control the behavior of those who oppose their ideas. Which view of crime would agree with this statement?

A) Conflict view
B) Interactionist view
C) Moral entrepreneur
D) Consensus view

Question 24

According to this view of crime, criminal law is a set of rules, codified by state authorities, that express norms, goals, and values of the vast majority of society.

A) Conflict view
B) Consensus view
C) Interactionist view
D) Moral entrepreneur

Question 25

Which of the following is a problem associated with the validity of the UCR?

A) No federal crimes are reported.
B) If an offender commits multiple crimes, only the most serious are recorded.
C) Reports are voluntary and vary in accuracy.
D) Crime rates per 50,000 people are computed.

Question 26

What source of criminal statistics is the most cited?

A) Uniform Crime Reports
B) National Crime Victimization Survey
C) Self-report surveys
D) National Incident-Based Reporting System

Question 27

What data source relies on a sample of households to collect information about the frequency of crime victimization and the characteristics of victims?

A) Monitoring the Future Survey
B) NCVS
C) National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)
D) UCR

Question 28

Which view of crime suggests that criminal law is structured to reflect the preferences and opinions of people who hold social power in a particular legal jurisdiction?

A) Moral entrepreneur
B) Conflict view
C) Consensus view
D) Interactionist view

Question 29

According to biosocial theory, elements of the environment interact with biological factors to influence behavior.

Question 30

Which of the following is not a reason why victims fail to report serious crimes to the police?

A) Victims may consider the crime trivial or unimportant.
B) Victims fear reprisals from an offender's friends or family.
C) Victims do not trust the police or have little confidence in their ability.
D) Victims do not know how to contact the police or how to report the crime.

Question 31

The NCVS does not ask participants to report on which of the following crimes?

A) Assault
B) Murder
C) Rape
D) Robbery

Question 32

Which source of crime data prefers the use of interviews and questionnaires for high school students?

A) Observational
B) Victimization
C) Self-report
D) Official

Question 33

It is possible that the link between crime and mental illness is spurious: that is, both mental illness and criminal behavior may be the result of some other, independent variable.

Question 34

Which of the following crimes is not included on the list of Part I crimes documented by the UCR?

A) Simple assault
B) Arson
C) Motor vehicle theft
D) Larceny

Question 35

Crime rates are likely to decrease as:

A) the proportion of teens in a population increases.
B) there is an increase in drug use.
C) the media shows more violence and people become bored by it.
D) the number of immigrants in a population increases.

Question 36

Which of the following is not a problem associated with the NCVS?

A) Inability to record the personal criminal activity of those interviewed
B) Overreporting due to the victim's misrepresentations of events
C) Incomplete acts are lumped together with completed ones.
D) Underreporting stemming from the embarrassment of reporting crime

Question 37

Moral entrepreneurs, people who wage moral crusades to control criminal law, fit into which view of crime?

A) Interactionist view
B) Conflict view
C) Consensus view
D) All of the above

Question 38

According to social structure theory, an offender goes through a careful decision-making process, weighing the consequences and benefits of their actions before engaging in criminal behavior.

Question 39

One factor that may influence the link between crime and the mentally ill is that people with severe mental illness are more at risk of victimization and victimization has been linked to increased propensity to commit a crime.

Question 40

Which of the following is not one of the three methods used to express crime data in the UCR?

A) Number of crimes reported to the police and arrests made
B) Data from Monitoring the Future collected every two years
C) Year over year percentage changes in the number of crimes
D) Crime rate per 100,000 people

Question 41

The greater the proportion of ____ in the population, the higher the crime rate and the greater the number of persistent offenders.

A) middle-aged women
B) young women
C) middle-aged men
D) young men

Question 42

Most reported crimes occur during which season?

A) Winter
B) Summer
C) Spring
D) Fall

Question 43

Which of the following is false regarding the victim-offender relationship?

A) There is no racial pattern in single-offender robberies.
B) Women are more likely than men to be victimized by an acquaintance.
C) Most crimes are committed by a single offender.
D) Minorities are the offenders in a majority of single-offender rapes and assaults.

Question 44

Since 1993, the rate of violent victimization has declined by about _____ percent.

A) 20
B) 40
C) 60
D) 80

Question 45

Which of the following statements about the age-crime relationship is false?

A) Young people are part of a youth culture that favors risk-taking and behaviors that may involve law violation.
B) Youths have unlimited access to their parent's money.
C) Youths are psychologically immature.
D) Youths are aware the juvenile justice system is less punitive than the adult system.

Question 46

According to the Monitoring the Future study, approximately ____ percent of teenagers report hurting someone badly enough that the victim needed medical care?

A) 1
B) 5
C) 10
D) 20

Question 47

Which view of crime suggests that individuals learn crime from close and intimate relationships, so kids with delinquent friends get locked into that way of life?

A) Social reaction theory
B) Social control theory
C) Social structure theory
D) Social learning theory

Question 48

____ theory maintains that everyone has the potential to become criminal.

A) Social structure
B) Social learning
C) Social control
D) Social reaction

Question 49

The culture of poverty is part of which theoretical perspective?

A) Social structure theory
B) Psychological theory
C) Social process theory
D) Rational choice theory

Question 50

Males account for ____ percent of all arrests for serious violent crimes.

A) 50
B) 60
C) 70
D) 80

Question 51

In what time and place is a violent crime most likely to occur?

A) After 6:00 p.m. in an open, public area
B) Before 6:00 p.m. in a rural setting
C) Mid-morning in an open, public area
D) Late afternoon in an alley

Question 52

What term is used to describe the practice of stopping and searching minorities without probable cause?

A) Racial profiling
B) Racial threat hypothesis
C) Institutional racism
D) Social conflict theory

Question 53

Weighing the consequences and benefits of committing a crime is the foundation of ___________ theory.

A) social process
B) routine activities
C) social structure
D) rational choice

Question 54

If Monitoring the Future data is accurate, high school students commit nearly _________ robberies per year.

A) 50,000
B) 75,000
C) 150,000
D) 200,000

Question 55

According to ____ theory, economic and political forces operate in society as the fundamental causes of criminality.

A) social conflict
B) developmental
C) social process
D) trajectory

Question 56

____ theory focuses on the economic and political forces operating in a society and views these forces as the fundamental causes of criminality.

A) Conflict
B) Social control
C) Developmental
D) Social structure

Question 57

Which of the following characteristics does not increase one's likelihood of victimization?

A) Being male
B) Being young
C) Being married
D) Living in a large urban area

Question 58

African Americans make up about 13 percent of the population but account for what percent of Part I violent crime arrests?

A) 22 percent
B) 28 percent
C) 30 percent
D) 36 percent

Question 59

What type of study is the best measure of unreported crimes?

A) Victimization surveys
B) Prison data
C) Self-report studies
D) Official records

Question 60

Which regions of the country usually have significantly higher rates of crime?

A) The Midwest and New England
B) The West and the South
C) The Midwest and the South
D) New England and the West

Question 61

____________________ question large groups of high school students about their participation in criminal or delinquent acts.

Question 62

John was born into a family that didn't have very much money, and he saw that his parents struggled to put food on the table. As he grew up, he found school boring despite being smart, so he dropped out. He was always impulsive and the process of finding a job took too long. John recently found out that he is going to be a father and wants to provide the best opportunity for his child that he can. To support himself and his unborn child, he gets involved in selling pain pills and he is arrested in a sting operation. John's actions could be the result of having a difficult family life, deciding to drop out of school, and seeing others turn to alternate means for money. Which theory would support this view as a cause for his crime?

A) Life course theory
B) Developmental theory
C) Social process theory
D) Biosocial theory

Question 63

The _____________________ states that as the poverty of minorities in the population increases, so too does the amount of social control that the public directs at those minority group members.

Question 64

________, in its simplest form, is a violation of criminal law.

Question 65

____________________ are the ties that people have to family, peers, social institutions, and significant others.

Question 66

June is 80 years old and is terrified of having her home burglarized or becoming a victim of some other crime, so she tries not to leave the house. She has never been a victim of crime but is aware that her neighborhood may not be as safe as it used to be. One afternoon when she does decide to leave the house, her home is burglarized and her television is stolen. After the burglary, June is ever more fearful of her neighbors and the crime that goes on in her community. What victim pattern best supports her fears?

A) Repeat victimization
B) Victim-offender relationships
C) Age
D) Marital status

Question 67

Data from the UCR is published in an annual volume that serves as the nation's __________________.

Question 68

Andrew has decided that he is going to rob a bank to pay off his debts after losing his job. He buys a gun from a kid who lives in an economically depressed section of town, but he doesn't ask where the gun came from. On the day of the robbery, Andrew decides that he will shoot at the ceiling inside the bank to get everyone's attention. But as he shoots, the bullet ricochets and strikes a bank teller. The teller dies instantly, and in the process of Andrew's getaway, he drops his gun. The "hierarchy rule" would apply to Andrew's situation. To which reporting mechanism does this rule apply?

A) NIBRS
B) Self-report survey
C) UCR
D) NCVS

Question 69

John was born into a family that didn't have very much money, and he saw that his parents struggled to put food on the table. As he grew up, he found school boring despite being smart, so he dropped out. He was always impulsive and the process of finding a job took too long. John recently found out that he is going to be a father and wants to provide the best opportunity for his child that he can. To support himself and his unborn child, he gets involved in selling pain pills and he is arrested in a sting operation. John's view of what crime is and how it's defined would fit best with which view?

A) Conflict view
B) Consensus view
C) Social force view
D) Interactionist view

Question 70

Which theory would advocate against the use of the sex offender registry for low-level offenders due to the stigma such a registry would create?

A) Social structure theory
B) Social reaction theory
C) Social control theory
D) Social learning theory

Question 71

Andrew has decided that he is going to rob a bank to pay off his debts after losing his job. He buys a gun from a kid who lives in an economically depressed section of town, but he doesn't ask where the gun came from. On the day of the robbery, Andrew decides that he will shoot at the ceiling inside the bank to get everyone's attention. But as he shoots, the bullet ricochets and strikes a bank teller. The teller dies instantly, and in the process of Andrew's getaway, he drops his gun. Andrew's decision to rob a bank as a better means of paying back his debts would fall under the _________.

A) personality theory
B) social learning theory
C) cognitive theory
D) rational choice theory

Question 72

____ theory recognizes that as people mature, the factors that influence their behavior change.

A) Social structure
B) Developmental
C) Psychological
D) Social process

Question 73

In a study entitled Delinquency in a Birth Cohort , researchers found that chronic offenders:

A) are more likely to continue criminality if they are female.
B) make up a small percentage of repeat offenders.
C) are deterred from further criminality if arrested during youth chronic offending.
D) commit the most violent acts of all criminals.

Question 74

________ are people who wage crusades to control criminal law so that it reflects their own personal values.

Question 75

How will the majority of Andrew's crimes be categorized?

A) Part I
B) Part II
C) Part III
D) Part IV

Question 76

Criticisms of UCR data include ______________ of the victims and law enforcement.

Question 77

The ____________________ is one who has serious and persistent brushes with the law and whose behavior may be excessively violent and destructive.

Question 78

John was born into a family that didn't have very much money, and he saw that his parents struggled to put food on the table. As he grew up, he found school boring despite being smart, so he dropped out. He was always impulsive and the process of finding a job took too long. John recently found out that he is going to be a father and wants to provide the best opportunity for his child that he can. To support himself and his unborn child, he gets involved in selling pain pills and he is arrested in a sting operation. The judge believes drugs have harmed John's neighborhood over the years and that punishing John will help control his actions in the future. The judge's view of the criminal justice system is likely the _____ view.

A) crime control
B) due process
C) interactionist
D) consensus

Question 79

Murder, forcible rape, robbery, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, arson, and ____________________ make up the FBI's Part I crimes.

Question 80

June is 80 years old and is terrified of having her home burglarized or becoming a victim of some other crime, so she tries not to leave the house. She has never been a victim of crime but is aware that her neighborhood may not be as safe as it used to be. One afternoon when she does decide to leave the house, her home is burglarized and her television is stolen. June decides not to report the burglary to the police because she feels that the break-in was her fault. Which crime measurement tool would most likely account for June's situation?

A) NIBRS
B) Self-report study
C) UCR
D) NCVS