Deck 14: Legal Issues in Corrections

Question 1

Who said that civilizations can be judged by the way in which they treat their prisoners?

A) Winston Churchill
B) Thomas Payne
C) Plato
D) Jesus Christ

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Who is credited with the idea of the rule of law?

A) Winston Churchill
B) Thomas Payne
C) Plato
D) Jesus Christ

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which of the following individuals first claimed "no one is above the law"?

A) Caesar
B) Plato
C) Alexander the Great
D) Socrates

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Which of the following is an element of the rule of law?

A) A nation must recognize the supremacy of certain fundamental values and principles.
B) Certain fundamental values and principles must be committed to writing.
C) A system of procedures to hold the government to certain fundamental values and principles must be in place.
D) All of these are correct.

Question 5

Which early court case allowed for prisons to keep inmates in a slave-like "state of penal servitude"?

A) Ruffin v. Commonwealth
B) Ex parte Hull
C) Cooper v. Pate
D) Bell v. Wolfish

Question 6

Which early Supreme Court case ruled that prisoners did not even enjoy the protections of the Eighth Amendment?

A) Turner v. Safley
B) Wolff v. McDonnell
C) Pervear v. Massachusetts
D) Kansas v. Hendricks

Question 7

The ______ doctrine is the hesitancy of the judiciary to interfere with the management and administration of prisons.

A) reformatory
B) capital
C) hands-off
D) slavery

Question 8

State statutes that cause convicts to lose the right to vote, to hold public office, and even to marry are referred to as ______.

A) civil death statutes
B) habeas corpus statutes
C) slavery statutes
D) culture of fear statutes

Question 9

When did the Prisoners' Rights period begin?

A) 1866
B) 1964
C) 1978
D) 1983

Question 10

Habeas corpus literally means ______.

A) "You have the body."
B) "court order"
C) "petition of the accused"
D) "fair trial"

Question 11

The broadest mechanism for state prison inmates to sue state officials in federal court regarding their confinement and their conditions of confinement is ______.

A) an amicus brief
B) a civil rights claim
C) a writ of habeas corpus
D) a section 1983 suit

Question 12

In which case did the U.S. Supreme Court rule in 1941 that inmates have the right to unrestricted access to federal courts to challenge the legality of their confinement?

A) Ruffin v. Commonwealth
B) Ex parte Hull
C) Cooper v. Pate
D) Bell v. Wolfish

Question 13

A writ of habeas corpus ______.

A) challenges the legality of confinement
B) produces probable cause
C) imposes punishment without a trial
D) makes an act criminal after the fact

Question 14

The prohibition of bills of attainder addresses ______.

A) challenging the legality of confinement
B) producing probable cause
C) imposing punishment without a trial
D) making an act criminal after the fact

Question 15

In which case did the U.S. Supreme Court rule that prisoners can use a writ of habeas corpus to challenge the conditions of their confinement, as well as the legality of their confinement?

A) Ruffin v. Commonwealth
B) Ex parte Hull
C) Cooper v. Pate
D) Bell v. Wolfish

Question 16

Which court case is widely considered to be the one that signaled the onset of the deference period?

A) Ruffin v. Commonwealth
B) Ex parte Hull
C) Cooper v. Pate
D) Bell v. Wolfish

Question 17

The prohibition of ex post facto addresses ______.

A) challenging the legality of confinement
B) producing probable cause
C) imposing punishment without a trial
D) making an act criminal after the fact

Question 18

The ______ was a partial return to the hands-off period.

A) civil rights movement
B) war on drugs
C) deference period
D) Jim Crow era

Question 19

Which court case signaled the start of the deference period?

A) Bell v. Wolfish
B) Wolff v. McDonnell
C) Sandin v. Conner
D) Kansas v. Hendricks

Question 20

The First Amendment grants the right to ______.

A) health care
B) parole
C) religion
D) all of these

Question 21

The ruling in ______ affirmed to the right of an inmate to hand out Black Muslim literature that was considered dangerous by prison authorities.

A) Bell v. Wolfish
B) Wolff v. McDonnell
C) Sandin v. Conner
D) Cooper v. Pate

Question 22

The Fourth Amendment does not apply universally to inmates because ______.

A) the safety of prisoners is paramount
B) inmates do not have the right to profit
C) maliciously and sadistically applied punishment is difficult to prove
D) what is reasonable within the walls of prison may be different than what is reasonable beyond those walls

Question 23

Which amendment bans unreasonable searches?

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

Question 24

In terms of cross-gender search complaints, ______.

A) men are more likely than women to file them
B) women are more likely than men to file them
C) both men and women file them at an equal rate
D) women are the only ones with the legal right to file them

Question 25

Due to restrictions on searches, correctional authorities have not been able to stop the growing problem of ______ by inmates.

A) threatening communications
B) tax fraud
C) drug trafficking
D) possession of pornographic materials

Question 26

The Supreme Court ruled that the viewing of exposed opposite-sex inmates is ______.

A) unconstitutional due to privacy rights
B) constitutional when reasonably related to legitimate penal interests
C) unconstitutional due to double standards
D) constitutional due to equal opportunity in employment

Question 27

The double standard in cross-gender searches is justified on all of the following assumptions EXCEPT ______.

A) males do not experience loss of job opportunities if they are forbidden to frisk females
B) intimate touching of a female inmate by a male officer may cause psychological trauma
C) many female inmates have histories of sexual abuse
D) females are statistically less likely to abuse the search process

Question 28

In which case did the U.S. Supreme Court enunciate what is now known as the balancing test, meaning that courts must balance the rights of inmates against the penological concerns of security and order?

A) Turner v. Safley
B) Wolff v. McDonnell
C) Sandin v. Conner
D) Kansas v. Hendricks

Question 29

Prison officials ______ prisoners' tax returns for fraudulent claims.

A) must inspect
B) are allowed to inspect
C) are not allowed to inspect
D) none of these

Question 30

Which amendment ensures a right to privacy?

A) First
B) Fourth
C) Fourteenth
D) none of these

Question 31

In a Bureau of Justice Statistics report on inmate mortality in state prisons, prisoners between 15 and 64 years of age had a mortality rate ______ than that of the U.S. general population.

A) 22.5% higher
B) 12% higher
C) 4.8% lower
D) 19% lower

Question 32

Inmates are the only Americans with a constitutional right to ______.

A) habeas corpus
B) an indigent defense
C) health care
D) none of these

Question 33

The Eighth Amendment has been interpreted to mean that inmates have a right to ______.

A) privacy
B) free speech
C) assembly
D) health care

Question 34

______ occurs when prison officials know of, but disregard, an obvious risk to an inmate's health or safety.

A) Inmate neglect
B) Deliberate indifference
C) Passive aggression
D) Liable ignorance

Question 35

According to the Supreme Court, cruel and unusual punishment is ______.

A) malicious
B) purposefully harmful
C) sadistic
D) All of these

Question 36

Interpretation of the Eighth Amendment requires that prison officials provide for all of the following EXCEPT ______.

A) educational programming
B) medical attention
C) food
D) protection from sexual abuse

Question 37

The rate of sexual assault in prisons is statically ______ the rate on the outside.

A) higher than
B) lower than
C) the same as
D) much higher than

Question 38

In which case did the U.S. Supreme Court rule that, although inmates are not entitled to the same due process rights as an accused but unconvicted person on the outside, they are entitled to some due process rights?

A) Turner v. Safley
B) Wolff v. McDonnell
C) Sandin v. Conner
D) Kansas v. Hendricks

Question 39

In which case did the U.S. Supreme Court rule that due process rights for inmates are not triggered by disciplinary actions that do not result in the loss of "good time"?

A) Turner v. Safley
B) Wolff v. McDonnell
C) Sandin v. Conner
D) Kansas v. Hendricks

Question 40

What percentage of sex offenders are confined under civil commitment procedures?

A) 1-2%
B) 4-5%
C) 9-10%
D) 13-14%

Question 41

In 1997, the Supreme Court upheld Kansas's Sexually Violent Predator Act, which allowed for civil commitment to be used ______.

A) for long-term and convicted offenders
B) in lieu of prison
C) to further imprison inmates convicted of sex crimes past their full prison term
D) to avoid due process

Question 42

The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act ______.

A) was enacted to prosecute terrorists following 9/11
B) effectively limited prisoners' right to habeas corpus
C) made legal the death penalty for domestic terrorists
D) eliminated domestic terrorists' right to a fair trial

Question 43

The Prison Litigation Reform Act was enacted to ______.

A) provide prisoners with habeas corpus rights
B) allow prisoners the right to petition
C) place state prisons under the supervision of the federal system
D) limit prisoners' access to federal courts

Question 44

In 2015, there were ______ prisoner petitions, indicating that they are climbing dramatically again.

A) 73,406
B) 68,238
C) 52,531
D) 24,519

Question 45

In ______, the Supreme Court ruled that probationers facing revocation should have the opportunity to challenge evidence by cross-examining state witnesses.

A) Bell v. Wolfish
B) Wolff v. McDonnell
C) Morrissey v. Brewer
D) Mempa v. Rhay

Question 46

The court case ______ confirmed the importance of liberty interest in parole cases.

A) Bell v. Wolfish
B) Wolff v. McDonnell
C) Morrissey v. Brewer
D) Mempa v. Rhay

Question 47

Probationers and parolees waive their rights under which amendment?

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

Question 48

Winston Churchill said, "I see that the state in which the law is above the rulers, and the rulers are the inferiors of the law, has salvation, and the very blessings which the Gods can confer."

Question 49

In 2008, an estimated 1 of every 100 adults were in jail or prison in the United States.

Question 50

The hands-off doctrine articulates the reluctance of the judiciary to interfere with the management and administration of prisons.

Question 51

In Cooper, the Supreme Court ruled that state prison inmates could sue state officials in federal courts under the Civil Rights Act of 1871.

Question 52

Inmates have the legal right to challenge the legality of their confinement but not the conditions of their confinement.

Question 53

The Bill of Rights contains all of the personal rights granted by the U.S. Constitution.

Question 54

Ex parte refers to situations in which the prosecution fails to bring forth probable cause before the court.

Question 55

Habeas corpus literally means "you have the body."

Question 56

Freedom of speech allows inmates to write, publish, and sell books as long as they do not profit from them.

Question 57

Freedom of speech for prisoners can be limited on moral or ethical grounds.

Question 58

The First Amendment guarantees freedom from search and seizure.

Question 59

The majority of cross-gender search complaints are filed by male inmates.

Question 60

An argument for gender-specific standards, on the basis of prior sexual abuse, is that cross-gender searches have the potential to replicate the suffering of prior sexual abuse in prison.

Question 61

The Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable searches and seizures is seen differently when an offender is inside a prison.

Question 62

Because inmates are in prison to be punished, the Eighth Amendment does not apply to them.

Question 63

The Fourteenth Amendment has been used to provide due process rights to offenders.

Question 64

Kansas's Sexually Violent Predator Act is criminal law rather than civil law.

Question 65

The Supreme Court has ruled the use of civil commitment laws against sex offenders to be unconstitutional.

Question 66

In 2012, prisoner petitions climbed dramatically to over double what they were in 2000, but there were still fewer than in 1996.

Question 67

Between 1996 and 2000, there was only a 20% drop in prisoner petitions.

Question 68

The Prisoners' Rights period extended rights to offenders under community supervision.

Question 69

Even after being released from prison, some ex-offenders do not regain the rights they had prior to conviction.

Question 70

Probationers waive their rights under the Eighth Amendment.

Question 71

Discuss what habeas corpus is and explain why it is significant.

Question 72

Explain how the Constitution was used to justify the hands-off doctrine.

Question 73

Explain what an inmate must prove in order to prevail in suits involving deliberate indifference.

Question 74

Identify and explain the five due process rights guaranteed to inmates.

Question 75

Identify and explain the four amendments to the Constitution that are discussed in this chapter in relation to the rights of inmates

Question 76

Explain civil death statutes and their significance.

Question 77

Explain the balancing test created by the Court in the case of Turner v. Safley.

Question 78

Explain what must be shown in order for liability to attach to prison officials for inmate-inmate assaults.

Question 79

How has the case of Kansas v. Hendricks affected the way sex offenders are handled in the system?

Question 80

Discuss the rule of law (including its three irreducible elements) and explain why you believe it is significant.