Deck 9: Inequality, Crime, and Victimization

Question 1

A sociological approach to the study of crime generally includes an examination of

A) individual causes of crime.
B) psychological dispositions.
C) patterns of structural inequality and crime.
D) biological foundations of crime.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Social inequalities usually structure the

A) patriotic fervor many people feel.
B) social privileges and opportunities individuals have.
C) economic advantages that some people have.
D) relationship between musical taste and crime.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Braithwaite's review of nearly 300 studies of class and crime found that

A) middle-class adults and juveniles commit those types of crime that are handled by the police at a higher rate than lower-class people.
B) middle-class adults and juveniles commit those types of crime that are handled by the police at a higher rate than upper-class people.
C) upper-class adults and juveniles commit those types of crime that are handled by the police at a higher rate than middle-class people.
D) lower-class adults and juveniles commit those types of crime that are handled by the police at a higher rate than middle-class people.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Self-report data indicate that for the lower-class and middle-class patterns of status offenses and general delinquent behavior

A) differences in incidence rates were extreme.
B) differences in prevalence were extreme.
C) differences in prevalence were practically nonexistent.
D) none of the above.

Question 5

The most damaging and dangerous crimes committed in the United States are committed by the

A) lower class.
B) middle class.
C) professional-managerial class.
D) upper class.

Question 6

Most conventional crime is

A) intraclass.
B) interclass.
C) unrelated to class.
D) none of the above.

Question 7

White-collar and political crime patterns of offending and victimization appear to be primarily __________ based.

A) intraclass
B) interclass
C) not classed
D) supraclass

Question 8

Research has consistently shown that the relationship between unemployment rates and conventional street crime means that

A) as unemployment decreases, companies are making more money and white-collar crime increases.
B) as unemployment increases, conventional crime decreases.
C) even slight increases in unemployment will contribute to higher rates of property and violent crimes.
D) as unemployment increases, the rates of white-collar crime also increase.

Question 9

Which of the following is structured by an "old boy network" that facilitates crime?

A) conventional crimes
B) corporate crime
C) syndicated crime
D) both b and c

Question 10

With perceived inequality in the workplace, some research indicates that workplace crimes are a means to

A) "insult" the employer.
B) "show off" to friends and acquaintances.
C) "get ahead" of the employer.
D) "even the score" with the employer.

Question 11

To succeed in business, executives must pursue profit with a vengeance and overcome many obstacles to success, such as

A) minimizing cost and creating demand for their commodities.
B) controlling and monitoring employees who might steal from them.
C) maximizing costs and marketing their products.
D) marketing their products and hiring fewer people.

Question 12

In a profit-driven society corporations are inherently criminogenic because of the drive for profit making and the

A) expected rate of employee theft.
B) high cost of complying with government regulations.
C) obstacles companies must overcome to be competitive.
D) cut-throat competition from other companies.

Question 13

The state serves the interests of the professional-managerial class because they are the most __________ class.

A) moral and upright
B) well-educated
C) economically powerful
D) politically powerful

Question 14

U.S. foreign policy has supported practices that permit the greatest opportunity for corporations in the United States to invest in other countries. Therefore, revolutionary movements that challenge the status quo are quickly repressed by

A) different agencies within the U.S. government.
B) groups internal to that country and free of outside influence, such as the Contras.
C) groups internal to that country with help from their neighboring countries.
D) antirevolutionary groups external to that country.

Question 15

Gender refers to historically and culturally developed patterns of behavior resulting from relationships between men and women, and gender relations have developed sociologically into __________ relationships between men and women.

A) symbiotic
B) equitable and rewarding
C) unequal
D) conflict-laden

Question 16

Based on the UCR, the NCVS, and self-report studies, __________ are the primary offenders in criminal behavior.

A) men
B) women
C) boys
D) girls

Question 17

What type of crime are women and girls most likely to commit?

A) political crime
B) white-collar crime
C) petty property offenses
D) violent crimes against men

Question 18

What type of society is organized such that men as a group have more power and opportunities than do women?

A) matriarchal
B) patriarchal
C) egalitarian
D) patrilineal

Question 19

Women's occupational advances appear to be minimal when one considers the 2009 statistics that the vast majority of those employed in

A) professional-managerial and high-status occupations are women of color.
B) professional-managerial and high-status occupations are women.
C) service sector and low-status occupations are women of color.
D) service sector and low-status occupations are women.

Question 20

Who commits most of the political, corporate, and white-collar crime in the United States?

A) African-American men
B) white men
C) young African-American males
D) men and women of Asian descent

Question 21

Men who embezzle are mostly

A) getting even with their employer.
B) taking from the till.
C) manipulating the books.
D) trying to keep women oppressed.

Question 22

Women usually embezzle to

A) fix a temporary financial crisis by "borrowing" from their employer.
B) provide economically for their families.
C) live a lavish lifestyle that indicates their success.
D) make up for the money they would be earning if they were men.

Question 23

Men usually embezzle to

A) fix a temporary financial crisis by "borrowing" from their employer.
B) provide economically for their families.
C) live a lavish lifestyle that indicates their success.
D) make up for the money they would be earning if they were in charge.

Question 24

The feminization of poverty, which results in more women committing economically motivated crimes, exists because

A) the gendered division of labor continues to discriminate against women.
B) there is a lack of adequate childcare.
C) a punitive and minimal welfare system keeps single mothers below the poverty line.
D) all of the above.

Question 25

Why do lower-class African-American women face such high rates of violent crime?

A) Because of high levels of desperation and frustration among poor African Americans.
B) The culture of poverty creates a relative tolerance of violence.
C) The public spaces in their neighborhoods are dominated by men committed to a masculine street code.
D) African-American communities have lower levels of police presence.

Question 26

Which of the following is NOT a strategy used by African-American women to manage the risk of violent victimization?

A) Avoiding public places.
B) Moving to a neighborhood with a higher percentage of affluent African Americans.
C) Relying on the company of others.
D) Staying close to home.

Question 27

What percentage of nurses, prekindergarten and kindergarten teachers, and childcare workers are women?

A) 55 percent
B) 69 percent
C) 83 percent
D) Over 90 percent

Question 28

The study of race and crime is important insofar as people in modern society rely on the use of racial and ethnic bigotry

A) to justify and excuse the ill treatment of large groups of people.
B) to empower minorities through affirmative action programs.
C) to give special treatment to minorities.
D) as a motivation for hate crimes.

Question 29

Which group accounts for approximately 70 percent of arrests according to the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR)?

A) African Americans
B) Whites
C) Native Americans
D) Italians

Question 30

African Americans are involved in conventional crimes __________ to their representation in the population.

A) positively
B) proportionately
C) disproportionately
D) negatively

Question 31

Which of the following is closely associated with racial and economic disadvantage?

A) Relatively high levels of involvement of Asian- and Italian-Americans in syndicated crime.
B) The overrepresentation of African Americans in conventional crime.
C) The overrepresentation of African Americans in corporate crime.
D) Relatively lower levels of violence against women among poor white males.

Question 32

What type of crime are the elderly most likely to commit?

A) violent crime
B) elder abuse
C) larceny
D) political crime

Question 33

According to statistics presented in the textbook, __________ is the leading cause of death among African American youth.

A) homicide
B) heart disease
C) a job-related accident
D) family violence

Question 34

Which of the following is true regarding the relationship of race and homicide?

A) There is no relationship between race and homicide.
B) Homicide is largely an interracial (black-on-white) crime.
C) African American men are eight times more likely to be murdered than white men are.
D) White men are slightly more likely than other men to commit murder.

Question 35

Researchers refer to a situation that commonly occurs among African Americans, where lower employability increases the chances of criminality and criminality decreases the chances of employability, as

A) An unfortunate reality that can't be changed.
B) A vicious circle.
C) A never-ending battle for survival.
D) Inevitable, due to their economic status.

Question 36

What might present a relatively more attractive alternative to African American youth, in terms of economic viability?

A) the stock market
B) hotel/motel work
C) fast food service
D) illegal drug trade

Question 37

Violence among African Americans results from the intersection of racial discrimination, segregation, and

A) education level.
B) local context.
C) biological predisposition.
D) economic disadvantage.

Question 38

According to UCR figures, the age distribution of property offense arrest rates peaks between the ages of

A) 10 and 13.
B) 13 and 17.
C) 17 and 18.
D) 20 and 25.

Question 39

According to UCR figures, the age distribution of violent offense arrest rates peaks between the ages of

A) 10 and 13.
B) 13 and 17.
C) 18 and 22.
D) 20 and 25.

Question 40

How are syndicated crime and corporate crime related?

A) Legitimate financial institutions launder money and racketeering inhibits unionization.
B) Syndicated crime networks help launder money embezzled by corporate executives.
C) Syndicated crime networks provide illicit substances and sexual services for corporate executives.
D) Syndicate members transfer corporate bribes to politicians.

Question 41

What did Webster find about the relationship between whiteness and crime?

A) The association of whiteness and crime is not as strong as the association of blackness and crime.
B) Although whites commit the highest amount of crime and the most serious crimes, whiteness is an invisible variable in criminological research and theory.
C) There is a racial hierarchy among whites.
D) Both b and c are correct.

Question 42

Why are adults arrested less frequently than youth for conventional crimes?

A) Biological aging processes tend to inhibit aggression and risk-taking.
B) Law enforcement officials concentrate their activities on youth.
C) Marriage and employment encourage conformity.
D) To protect them from being tried as adults, most gangs require men to leave at age 21.

Question 43

According to Greenberg's research, lower- and working-class males have less of a chance than other males of fulfilling the traditional gender ideology of working outside the home to support a family, and crime can

A) be a means of expressing resentment and rebellion against the power structure.
B) assuage the guilt they feel for their inability to measure up to the masculine standard.
C) provide a sense of potency that is expected and desired but not achieved in other spheres of life.
D) alleviate the stress they're feeling as a result of this situation.

Question 44

Hirschi and Gottfredson's claim that the age distribution in crime is "invariant" has been

A) consistently confirmed by every other researcher.
B) proven false by other researchers.
C) the most enduring true fact of crime since they first studied it.
D) given great consideration by policymakers.

Question 45

What portion of conventional crime is committed by whites?

A) 10 percent
B) 25 percent
C) 33 percent
D) 70 percent

Question 46

The argument that individuals will "mature" out of crime as they grow into adulthood is clearly false when one considers the dominant ages of

A) white-collar crime and political crime offenders.
B) property crime offenders.
C) female offenders.
D) prostitution.

Question 47

A leading factor in conventional crime offending among adolescents is an experience of

A) childhood sexual abuse among girls.
B) childhood sexual abuse among boys and girls.
C) childhood sexual abuse among boys.
D) alcoholic parents.

Question 48

What does the NCVS show regarding the relation between family income and violent victimization?

A) There is almost no relationship between income level and violent victimization.
B) As family income increases, so does the rate of violent victimization.
C) As family income decreases, violent victimization increases.
D) Violent victimization is highest among the richest and the poorest families.

Question 49

Which of the following is associated with high levels of wife killing?

A) A gender gap in college education.
B) High levels of income inequality between women and men.
C) Higher levels of unemployment for women than men.
D) All of the above.

Question 50

Arrest data, self-report studies, and victimization surveys all show that conventional crimes by adults and youth are disproportionately concentrated in the lower and working classes.

Question 51

White-collar and political crimes are disproportionately committed by working-class and lower-class men.

Question 52

The close association between the state and the economy creates conditions for systematic state crime, such as international political crime, because of the state's fundamental need to protect a capitalist economy.

Question 53

Women have a virtual monopoly on the commission of syndicated, corporate, and political crimes.

Question 54

When women commit crimes, they engage mostly in petty forms of theft like shoplifting, fraud, minor embezzlement, and prostitution.

Question 55

Male violence toward women derives from gender inequality, the structural subordination of women, and the power and dominance of men in U.S. society.

Question 56

Because racial oppression increases disadvantages for whites, especially when hiring preferences are given to minorities, they experience a disproportionate number of economic and social obstacles.

Question 57

Corporate and political crime are dominated by individuals between the ages of 30 and 60.

Question 58

Power inequality within a family can create social positions leading to greater levels of security and safety for youth, which means that strict authoritarian homes will produce the fewest numbers of delinquent children.

Question 59

The feminization of poverty illustrates the growing rate of poverty among single men.

Question 60

Whereas other societies in the world are categorized as rape-prone, the United States is not a rape-prone culture.

Question 61

There appears to be a link between racial inequality and violence for African Americans.

Question 62

Because class, gender, and race are separate categories they are best understood in isolation.

Question 63

Elderly crime consists mostly of petty forms of theft, such as shoplifting.

Question 64

Neighborhoods with a mixture of affluent and disadvantaged African Americans have lower levels of violent crime.

Question 65

Despite the increase in "whiteness" studies in the academy, criminologists have not yet begun to study whiteness and crime.

Question 66

What is the controversy in criminology regarding age distribution and criminal offending? What does the evidence show?

Question 67

Race is an important phenomenon when studying crime. What are the overall trends and patterns with respect to race and crime? Who is more likely to commit conventional crime? Who is most likely to commit white-collar, corporate, and political crime? What other social dynamics help explain the racial patterning of crime?

Question 68

Gender is an important phenomenon when studying crime. What are the overall trends and patterns with respect to gender and crime? Be sure to address conventional property crime, interpersonal violent crime, white-collar, and political crime in the course of your answer.