Deck 11: Crime and Deviance

Question 1

Which of the following statements is not a true statement about the distinction between crime and deviance?

A) Deviance refers to any behavior that departs from what the majority of a community or society considers to be 'normal.'
B) All deviance is criminal.
C) Criminal refers to an act forbidden by law.
D) Definitions of both crime and deviance shift across time with respect to different groups.
E) None of the above

Answer 1

B

Question 2

A particular type of crime that involves discriminatory or hateful acts against a particular group in society is called:

A) Hate Crime
B) Racial Deviance
C) Misdemeanor
D) Social Injustice
E) None of the above

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Which country has the highest total documented prison and jail population in the world?

A) Russia
B) China
C) South Africa
D) United States

Answer 3

D

Question 4

The Bernard Madoff scandal included:

A) A Ponzi scheme
B) White collar crime
C) The minimal sentence possible under the law
D) All of the above
E) a and b only

Question 5

In what way do hate crimes hint at the limits to crime statistics?

A) The use of the term hate crime assumes that there is a common agreement about what would constitute a recognized criminal offence motivated by prejudice.
B) Victims of hate crimes may be reluctant to report their crime, thus causing an underreporting of the crimes.
C) There are no limits to crime statistics. They accurately capture crime trends in contemporary society.
D) Both a and b, but not c
E) None of the above

Question 6

Gusfield examined the cultural factors that contributed to the framing of "drinking and driving". His work is an example of:

A) Specialized field sociology
B) Deviant sociology
C) The constructionist paradigm
D) Mundane academic research
E) None of the above

Question 7

Sasson argued that the kinds of discourses used by opinion leaders in the media to discuss crime could be reduced to five basic frames. Which of the following is not one of these frames?

A) Faulty system
B) Blocked opportunities
C) Social breakdown
D) Media violence
E) None of the above

Question 8

Sasson's 'Racist System' frame focuses on:

A) Hate crimes
B) The criminal justice system as a system that is biased against nonwhite citizens
C) Racial inequality outside of the criminal justice system that leads to nonwhites committing more crimes
D) Local efforts to mediate racial prejudices
E) None of the above

Question 9

The approach to criminology in which the public understands crime to be the result of individuals' moral failings and decisions to act illegally is called:

A) Deviant social psychology
B) Mental instability
C) Volitional criminology
D) Hazardous neurology
E) None of the above

Question 10

Which of the following statements accurately summarizes the difference between sociological and individual approaches to crime and deviance?

A) Sociological approaches understand crime and deviance as a response to the society in which it occurs.
B) Individualist approaches assume that the cause of crime and deviance is inherent in the individual.
C) There is no difference
D) Both a and b, but not c
E) None of the above

Question 11

According to Chapter 11, when a society lacks the sufficient, legitimate means to achieve socially approved goals, this can be called:

A) Bad economy
B) Reality
C) Reverse American Dream syndrome
D) Strain
E) None of the above

Question 12

Robert Merton explained crime and deviance as "the result of strain caused by lack of sufficient legitimate means to achieve socially approved goals." This is an example of what type of sociological theory?

A) Conflict theory
B) Labeling theory
C) Functionalist theory
D) Queer theory
E) None of the above

Question 13

Which type of sociological theory shifted the focus from why people are criminal or deviant onto the question of why and how people come to be perceived as criminal or deviant?

A) Conflict theory
B) Labeling theory
C) Functionalist theory
D) Queer theory
E) None of the above

Question 14

Which sociological theory applied to crime and deviance is criticized because it tends to blame everything on the tension between interests of two classes of capitalists and workers and it ignores sources of tensions that are not class based?

A) Conflict theory
B) Labeling theory
C) Functionalist theory
D) Queer theory
E) None of the above

Question 15

What does the expression 'deviant career' refer to?

A) Individuals who are involved in organized crime, such as the mafia.
B) Individuals who participate in criminal activity that brings about financial benefit, such as drug dealing or embezzlement.
C) The way in which individuals who commit crimes at a young age and are sent to prison forfeit their opportunity to develop a career. Instead, their deviance becomes their career.
D) The process in which an individual internalizes and accepts the label of deviant.
E) None of the above

Question 16

A cultural approach to studying crime, deviance and punishment might…

A) Undertake ethnographic research of deviant subcultures in order to understand the meanings criminals attach to their actions
B) Examine media portrayal of crime and deviance
C) Investigate the frequency of particular crimes in culturally rich versus culturally depleted communities
D) Both a and b, but not c
E) None of the above

Question 17

The Thomas Theorem asserts that:

A) If an individual's parent is a criminal, the individual is three times more likely to commit a crime as well.
B) Deviance increases in periods of societal transition
C) If people define a situation as real, it is real in its consequences.
D) Capitalism by nature has higher crime rates than other economic systems
E) None of the above

Question 18

What are possible risks and limitations to ethnographic research?

A) Universities can withdraw support for the researcher on ethical grounds if the research is carried out without the knowledge of the criminal or deviant group.
B) Researchers might be in a position where they witness crimes, or even participate in them.
C) Researchers might suffer serious punishment if they try to protect their sources' confidentiality from the government.
D) Ethnographic research is often criticized as being unscientific or subjective.
E) All of the above

Question 19

The term moral panic refers to:

A) The moment when a criminal realizes that they have done something terribly wrong that they can't take back.
B) A time of heightened anxiety about what is perceived as a moral decline in society.
C) The dilemma a jury faces when faced with determining whether an individual is innocent or guilty.
D) A crisis of faith in which religion is no longer viewed as an adequate force in modern society.
E) None of the above

Question 20

According to Chapter 11, what did Foucault mean with his statement "power is in our bodies, not in our heads"?

A) Regulating people's bodies is a primary concern of every society.
B) Education is unimportant when it comes to political activity.
C) Sex is a means of power.
D) Physical force is always necessary for legitimate power.
E) None of the above

Question 21

Which of the following statements most accurately describes Foucault's argument regarding social control of unruly populations in postmodern society?

A) In postmodern society, social control of deviance has diminished. We are suffering from a moral crisis as a result of out of control liberalism.
B) In postmodern society, social control of deviance is no longer centered in the state, but in other social institutions like medicine and education.
C) In postmodern society, crime and deviance are psychologized. Individuals who commit crime are viewed as mentally unstable and treated via psychotherapy and institutionalization.
D) In postmodern society, social control of deviance is stricter than in times past because criminal sentences are longer and capital punishment is more common.
E) None of the above

Question 22

Chapter 11 asserts that postmodern society is characterized by diversity and contradiction when it comes to social regulation. On the one hand, prisons and capital punishment continue to be means of disciplinary control. On the other hand, there has been a turn to more subtle techniques of disciplinary control. Which of the following is not evidence of this assertion?

A) Shopping malls have their own security forces and electronic surveillance measures.
B) Many residential communities are gated.
C) Capital punishment has been reintroduced as a means of punishment
D) Certain breeds of dog known for their violent behaviors are banned in some states and countries.
E) All of the above

Question 23

All crime is deviant, but not all deviance is criminal.

Question 24

In the last ten years in the United States, the crime rate has fallen dramatically and citizens report that they feel much safer.

Question 25

In the United States, men are more likely to go to prison than women. Of major ethnic groups, blacks and Hispanics are more likely to be incarcerated than whites.

Question 26

According to constructionists, whatever the statistical facts about crime, an issue's significance depends on how the subject is constructed or framed in a certain way.

Question 27

According to Chapter 11, white collar crime costs more to society and is more likely to affect a wider public than street crime.

Question 28

Psychology, biology and theology all offer individualist theories of crime and deviance.

Question 29

The Thomas Theorem fits with the functionalist perspective which emphasizes how social actions are the result of shared definitions of a situation.

Question 30

According to Chapter 11, one of the paradoxical results of extensive media coverage of crime is that the media are simultaneously perceived as both a major cause of crime and an untapped, powerful, potential solution to crime.

Question 31

The media's focus on a few criminal events has very little effect in creating moral panics. Moral panics require widespread coverage of many events.

Question 32

Some experts explain America's willingness to hand out life sentences as having its roots in the Calvinist religious tradition.