Deck 6: Deviance, Crime, and Punishment

Question 1

When a behavior violates our idea of what is normal, we call it

A) deviant
B) punishment
C) discourse
D) crime

Answer 1

A

Question 2

What is the difference between crime and deviance?

A) Crime breaks laws, but, while deviance may involve law-breaking, it does not have to.
B) Deviance is the breaking of civil laws, while crime is the breaking of criminal law.
C) Deviance is the breaking of minor laws, while crime is the breaking of major laws.
D) Deviance includes Part I crimes, while crime involves Part II crimes.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

What do sociologists mean when they say that deviance is socially constructed?

A) Societies choose what behaviors they consider deviant and which they consider normal.
B) Some acts, such as child abuse, are considered crimes in all societies, but other acts, such as theft, are not.
C) Individuals decide for themselves what acts violate their personal ethical codes.
D) Each of us gets to decide what acts of other people offend us.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

We know that deviance is socially constructed because

A) what is deviant is consistent across societies
B) what is deviant in a society changes over time
C) what is deviance within a society is generally unchanging over time
D) there is strong social consensus about what acts are deviant, which is why we have little crime in the U.S.

Question 5

Many sociologists argue that societies need deviance. Why?

A) Deviance creates victims, and we need victims in order to practice feeling empathy for others.
B) Deviance provides important jobs in the prison industry, especially for rural towns where many prisons are located.
C) In punishing deviance, societies define the boundary between what is normal and what is not normal.
D) When we spend tens of thousands of dollars (or more) on jail cells, taxpayers get the opportunity to share a common burden, which builds community.

Question 6

Sometimes what is deviant is very clear, but sometimes we can debate it without fear of being socially punished for doing so. When we do this, we are engaging in

A) the zone of permissible argument
B) the zone of social construction
C) the zone of variable socialization
D) the zone of permitted variation

Question 7

Jared is a devoted son to his parents and brother to his sisters. He is also the captain of his high school's debate team. But the real joy of his life is volunteering in the woodworking shop at the local nursing home every week. There, he gets to know the residents and create new items for the nursing home, such as rocking chairs and bookshelves. What theory argues that Jared is less likely to engage in deviant behavior because of his connections to his family, debate team members, and the residents of the nursing home?

A) Social control theory
B) Broken window theory
C) Labeling theory
D) Stigma theory

Question 8

What is the thesis of Travis Hirschi's Causes of Delinquency (1969)?

A) When we have weak social ties, we comply with society's norms in an effort to impress others and strengthen our ties.
B) When we break norms, the people who love us invest in us more in order to encourage us to comply with society's rules.
C) The more meaningful social connections we have, the less likely we are to break norms because we don't want to risk those relationships.
D) The more meaningful social connections we have, the more likely we are to break norms because we want to test the durability of those relationships.

Question 9

In response to rioting in their neighborhood, some younger residents agree to stay overnight in the homes of elderly people in the neighborhood who are unable, due to health reasons, to leave the area during the time of increased violence. Each night of rioting, a team of young adults visits the neighborhood elders and offers to stay overnight with them. Most elderly people accept the offer with relief. This example illustrates the power of deviance to

A) overrule the desires of people in the minority
B) shift power from the old to the young
C) prevent an increase in crime by allowing people to "blow off" anger in smaller acts of deviance
D) reinforce social bonds of those who oppose it

Question 10

In 2014 in Waukesha, Wisconsin, two 12-year-old girls attempted to murder a friend because, they said, they believed that they had to kill in order to win the favor of Slenderman, an online fictional character who terrorizes children. The case contributed to growing concern about children's and teens' engagement with online horror stories and urban legends. This included calls to ban Slenderman websites from school computers and sensationalist coverage of the attempted murder. What term would scholars of deviance use to describe this situation?

A) Moral persuasion
B) Moral crusade
C) Moral panic
D) Moral incarceration

Question 11

A moral crusader is someone who

A) studies the relationship between morality and deviance
B) translates research on deviance into actionable policies to address it
C) presents himself or herself as a moral leader but is secretly engaged in serious deviant activity
D) exaggerates a public danger in order to create the feeling of a threat

Question 12

Which of the following statements about deviance is accurate?

A) Surveillance technologies such as closed-circuit TVs have dramatically reduced deviance.
B) Most people do not engage in deviant activity.
C) Crime is the most common form of deviant activity.
D) Sometimes, breaking the rules may improve how a society functions.

Question 13

Why are deviant subcultures more likely to exist in urban areas than in rural or suburban ones?

A) Urban areas typically have fewer laws than rural or suburban ones.
B) Urban areas typically have fewer police officers than rural or urban ones.
C) Urban areas typically have more men than rural or suburban areas, and men are more likely to engage in deviant behavior than are women.
D) Because cities have more diverse populations, with people coming to them from many different communities and countries, people in large urban areas are more likely to find norm-breaking subcultures.

Question 14

The Chinese triads and Japanese yakuza are both examples of

A) police forces
B) legislative bodies
C) criminal subcultures
D) legal systems

Question 15

What is the difference between a tight and a loose society?

A) Tight societies have strict norms and a low tolerance for deviance, while loose societies have weak social norms and a high tolerance for deviance.
B) Loose societies have strict norms and a low tolerance for deviance, while tight societies have weak social norms and a high tolerance for deviance.
C) Tight societies have weak norms and a low tolerance for deviance, while loose societies have strong social norms and a high tolerance for deviance.
D) Loose societies have weak norms and a low tolerance for deviance, while tight societies have strong social norms and a high tolerance for deviance.

Question 16

Which kind of deviance is a strong predictor of future rule-breaking behavior?

A) Secondary
B) Primary deviance
C) Civil violations
D) Moral panic

Question 17

How do sociologists and psychologists differ in their approaches to understanding deviance?

A) Sociologists tend to use methods of scientific observation to study deviance, while psychologists tend to work in the world of theory.
B) Sociologists tend to theorize deviance without measuring it scientifically, while psychologists use social scientific observation to study it.
C) Sociologists tend to emphasize the social factors that lead someone to take on an identity as deviant, while psychologists tend to focus on personality factors, which they see as heavily influenced by genetics.
D) Psychologists tend to emphasize the social factors that lead someone to take on an identity as deviant, while sociology tend to focus on personality factors, which they see as heavily influenced by genetics.

Question 18

What theory of deviance says that people become deviant when they are labelled as deviant people?

A) Labeling theory
B) Social control theory
C) Moral crusader theory
D) Stigma theory

Question 19

Kevin is a self-described "sex addict." He watches pornography obsessively, engages in dangerous sexual practices such as sex without condoms, and he consistently lies to his sexual partners about his sexual history and his current sexual behaviors. He knows that he is breaking social norms about sexuality and that he is endangering both his physical health and his relationships with other people he cares about. In a previous era, Kevin might have been labeled a sexual deviant and shunned from his community or given the stigma of an immoral person. Today, Kevin is voluntarily checking into an inpatient clinic for people who engage in obsessive sexual behaviors. There, he will be evaluated for obsessive compulsive disorder, a mental illness, and participate in individual and group therapy. Kevin's current course of treatment is an example of

A) the criminalization of deviance
B) the medicalization of deviance
C) the incarceration of deviant people
D) the normalization of deviance

Question 20

The DSM is a guidebook to

A) mandatory sentencing for people convicted of crimes
B) the signs and symptoms of mental illness
C) legal definitions of criminal behavior
D) illegal behaviors in different countries, for tourists seeking experiences that might be illegal in their home nation but legal in other places

Question 21

Attempts by the government to establish a formal system of rules about how people are allowed to behave, as well as a system of punishments for when they break those rules, are termed

A) medicalization of deviance
B) criminal justice system
C) laws
D) restorative justice

Question 22

What is the difference between parole and probation?

A) People assigned probation have previously been incarcerated, but people who have been assigned parole may not have gone to jail previously.
B) People assigned parole have previously been incarcerated, but people who have been assigned probation may not have gone to jail previously.
C) Parole is a response to Part I crimes, while probation is a response to Part II crimes.
D) Probation is a response to Part I crimes, while probation is a response to Part II crimes.

Question 23

What kind of lawyer represents clients accused of a crime but who cannot afford a lawyer?

A) Legal interns
B) Civil litigators
C) Private defense attorneys
D) Public defense attorneys

Question 24

Which of the following is an accurate statement about criminal and civil law?

A) The majority of legal cases are regulated by criminal, not civil, law.
B) The majority of legal cases are regulated by civil, not criminal, law.
C) The number of criminal and civil cases in the U.S. has declined over the last three decades.
D) People accused of crimes can plea bargain from a criminal to a civil case.

Question 25

Financial compensation or other ways of addressing the harm that one person caused another is called

A) restoration
B) rejuvenation
C) restitution
D) renewal

Question 26

Laws that govern disputes between individuals and organizations rather than the breaking of government laws comprise

A) interpersonal law
B) civil law
C) criminal law
D) restorative justice

Question 27

UCR stands for

A) United Criminal Response
B) Unified Case Reporting
C) Unreported Crime Rate
D) Uniform Crime Report

Question 28

Part I offenses are

A) more common than Part II offenses
B) more serious crimes than Part II offenses
C) less violent than Part II cases
D) less likely to be prosecuted than Part II cases

Question 29

Robbery is different from theft in that

A) robbery involves two criminals, while theft involves one
B) robbery can be punished with probation, but theft requires incarceration
C) robbery includes force or the threat of violence, which is not required in theft
D) robbery is a property crime, not a violent crime, whereas theft is a violent crime

Question 30

The difference between violent crime and property crime is whether

A) a person or an object is the target
B) someone is injured in the crime
C) the criminal is a juvenile or an adult
D) the crime occurred on private or public property

Question 31

Burglary is different from theft because it

A) requires entering a home or business
B) requires a weapon
C) requires that someone is injured
D) is accidental, while theft is intended

Question 32

Compared to violent crime, property crime is

A) much more common
B) much less common
C) equally common
D) more likely to be prosecuted

Question 33

In general in the U.S., since the early 1990s,

A) both property and violent crimes have been decreasing
B) both property and violent crime have been increasing
C) both property and violent crime rates have been steady
D) property crime rates have fallen, but violent crime rates have increased

Question 34

Which of the following is not a Part II crime?

A) Forgery
B) Illegal possession of a weapon
C) Simple assault
D) Burglary

Question 35

What is one reason why comparisons of crime rates between U.S. cities are difficult to make?

A) Some cities define "murder" differently.
B) There is a more trusting relationship between citizens and police in some cities, so citizens are more likely to report crime there.
C) Some cities have gun control laws that other cities do not have.
D) Some cities do not collect data about crime.

Question 36

Violence or intimidation against people because of an aspect of their identity, such as their race or ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or disability, is called

A) an identity crime
B) a bias crime
C) a hate crime
D) a crime motivated by prejudice

Question 37

What was one result of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994?

A) Special police units focusing on gender-related crimes were formed.
B) Convicted domestic abusers were denied the right to own guns in every state.
C) Self-defense laws were strengthened, so women who killed a partner who was attacking them were no longer accused of a crime.
D) Convicted domestic abusers were put on a terrorist watch list because most mass shooters have a history of domestic violence.

Question 38

One day while walking home from working a late shift, Raoul was beaten by two attackers. As they assaulted him with a baseball bat, they shouted both homophobic comments about Raoul's bisexuality and racist comments about his identity as a Latino. How would sociologists describe what happened to Raoul?

A) Simple assault
B) Misogyny
C) Antisemitism
D) Multiple-bias hate crime

Question 39

What region of the world is responsible for the most illegal drug sales?

A) North America
B) Central America
C) South America
D) Sub-Saharan Africa

Question 40

Which theory of policing states that harshly policing and punishing small crimes and minor violations prevents more significant deviances and more serious criminal behavior?

A) Broken windows theory
B) Social control theory
C) Labeling theory
D) Prison-industrial theory

Question 41

The social response to deviance that controls the deviant behavior and the offender while protecting the social group at its standards is termed

A) crime
B) deviance
C) punishment
D) restitution

Question 42

According to Durkheim, why are modern societies less likely to use public punishment than other forms of punishment?

A) Public punishments were a form of entertainment, but modern societies have television and other forms of in-home entertainment, so they don't need to go into public to be entertained.
B) Public punishments were an effort to remind everyone, not just the victim, of the rules of society, but now you can easily look up the rules of society online, so public punishment is not necessary.
C) The public today understands that sometimes juries make wrong decisions, so they are less willing to endorse humiliating punishments than in the past.
D) Public punishments such as public hangings allowed members to share a common experience, which is not how people in modern societies form bonds.

Question 43

What is one reason that governments ended public executions?

A) They were expensive.
B) They often ended in the execution of an innocent person, which violates the Constitutional right to life.
C) People were no longer interested in watching them.
D) The crowds that gather at public executions were often a threat to public safety.

Question 44

When did the idea that prisoners could and should be rehabilitated enter into the U.S. understanding of criminal justice?

A) 18th century
B) 19th century
C) 20th century
D) 21th century

Question 45

Michael was released from prison for drug sales two weeks ago and has been arrested today for drug sales. What term describes Michael's second arrest?

A) Police profiling
B) Criminal recidivism
C) Rehabilitation
D) Revolving prison door

Question 46

David has been charged with murder, but his lawyer has persuaded the prosecutor to charge him with manslaughter, a charge that carries a lesser punishment, in exchange for David pleading guilty and avoiding a trial. If the prosecutor and judge accept this arrangement, David will have engaged in

A) plea bargaining
B) parole
C) probation
D) restorative justice

Question 47

The process through which prisoners who appear to have reformed themselves can earn an early release from their prison sentence is called

A) restorative justice.
B) restitution
C) probation
D) parole

Question 48

What nation has the largest number of people in prison in the world today?

A) The United States
B) China
C) Australia
D) North Korea

Question 49

Which nation has a higher rate of imprisonment than any other nation in the world?

A) Saudi Arabia
B) Singapore
C) Iraq
D) The United States

Question 50

What is one reason for the increased number of prisoners in the U.S. since the 1970s?

A) The U.S. abolished parole for federal crimes in 1984.
B) The U.S. made things illegal that were previously illegal.
C) The U.S. population is aging, and older people are more likely to engage in deviant behavior.
D) The crime rate has increased.

Question 51

Which of the following true statements is not evidence of racism within the U.S. justice system?

A) The U.S. consumes more illegal drugs than any other nation.
B) Police arrest African Americans for drug violations at twice the rate of white people, despite the fact that the drug use rates are equivalent for the two groups.
C) White people are more likely than African Americans to sell drugs, but African Americans are more likely to be arrested for drug violations.
D) Police pull African American drivers over for investigation at a rate far higher than white drivers.

Question 52

The U.S. is unique in the Western world in that

A) it abolished the death penalty for federal crimes first
B) it does not use adult punishments for juvenile offenders.
C) it continues to use capital punishment.
D) it is committed to rehabilitation efforts for prisoners.

Question 53

The prison-industrial complex is

A) The use of prisoners as laborers to support for-profit economic activities
B) The refurbishing of old prisons into other kinds of facilities, like schools
C) Tourism in prisons
D) The effort to place people with criminal records in stable jobs after their release

Question 54

Activist and scholar Angela Davis gave us the term

A) decarceration
B) broken window theory
C) prison-industrial complex
D) restorative justice

Question 55

The decarceration movement seeks to

A) require mandatory sentencing, so that everyone accused of the same crime receives the same punishment
B) increase the number of public defenders so that poor people accused of crimes are better represented
C) reduce the number of people in prisons
D) prohibit people with felony records from having the right to vote

Question 56

Which country maintained the use of the guillotine through the 1930s?

A) The United States
B) The United Kingdom
C) Canada
D) France

Question 57

Why has the U.S. prison system been compared to slavery?

A) Black men are jailed disproportionately to their rate of criminality, and they are used as laborers in prison.
B) The rate of prison escapes is similar to the number of escapes from slavery.
C) In prison, labor is seen as a way to reform criminals before releasing them, just as slavery was seen as a way to reform enslaved people before freeing them.
D) Slavery was ignored by most white people, just as most free people today ignore those in prisons.

Question 58

Confinement in a prison, rather than in one's home, is termed

A) incarceration
B) decarceration
C) parole
D) probation

Question 59

What is one way that TV shows about crime reinforce norms about deviance?

A) They show that villains are almost always punished.
B) They show that sometimes even good people do bad things.
C) They show that if you have enough money and power, you can escape justice.
D) They show that corrupt police officers are rarely punished.

Question 60

TV shows about crime are likely to

A) show people of color as victims of crimes much more often than they are in real life
B) show people of color as victims of crime less often than they are victims of crime in real life
C) show people of color as perpetrators of crime much more often than they are in real life
D) follow real-life stories of crimes against women of color more than they are to show real-life stories of crimes against white women