Deck 3: Just Deserts: Doing Justice or Getting Tough

Question 1

Retribution believes in which of the following perspectives?

A) restore the community
B) rehabilitate offenders
C) do no harm
D) an eye for an eye

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Which of the following is an example of retribution or just deserts?

A) a student misses an exam because a dog runs away and they are given a makeup exam
B) a student misses an exam because a dog runs away and they are given a zero
C) a student misses an exam because a dog runs away and they are given an alternative assignment
D) a student misses an exam because a dog runs away and they are given a pass on taking the exam

Answer 2

B

Question 3

What other purpose do people often want the correctional system to serve aside from imposing just deserts?

A) reduce crime and make society safer
B) lock up as many criminals as possible
C) create more jobs by building more prisons
D) reduce tax payers financial responsibility to imprison criminals

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Just deserts or retribution is a non-utilitarian theory of corrections, which means which of the following?

A) the main focus is on crime control
B) by inflicting harm the criminal reforms and never commits crime again
C) inflicting harm is what achieves justice
D) the main focus is to remove the offender from society

Question 5

Advocates of retribution or just deserts despise which of the following practices?

A) discretion
B) imprisonment
C) determinate sentencing
D) equal punishment

Question 6

Which of the following is an example of determinate sentencing?

A) two offenders commit the same crime and are given the exact same sentence but can be let out early if they are rehabilitated
B) two offenders commit the same crime but are given different sentences based on extenuating circumstances
C) two offenders commit the same crime but are given different sentences based on the day of the week
D) two offenders commit the same crime and are given the exact same sentence to serve in its entirety

Question 7

Which of the following statements about proportionality in sentencing is true?

A) punishment should be proportionate to the type of crime committed
B) punishment should be proportionate to the seriousness of the crime committed
C) punishment should be proportionate to the history of the criminal record
D) punishment should be proportionate to other offenders in prison

Question 8

Which of the following is not a positive recommendation about retribution or just deserts?

A) the approach works to reduce the likelihood that offenders will commit new crimes
B) the punishments are written out where everyone can see them
C) everyone who is incarcerated serves the same sentence for the same crime
D) the public is pretty clear on which crimes are more serious than other crimes

Question 9

Which of the following is not a major idea of retribution?

A) offenders have the right to break the law
B) society needs punishment
C) offenders have the right to receive treatment
D) society has the right to punish offenders who choose to break the law

Question 10

The prison problem of retribution refers to which of the following:

A) there are not enough prisons to house all of the criminals
B) prisons are inherently inhumane
C) not all prisons are the same and offenders are not all treated equally
D) there is too much space in prisons that still need to be filled

Question 11

The statement that "retribution hinges on the reality that human behavior is a product of free will" refers to which problem?

A) the prison problem
B) the criminology problem
C) the inequality problem
D) the utility problem

Question 12

Which of the following components of the inequality problem of retribution argues the point that "not everyone in a group who is exposed to an awful condition does something awful untoward and you cannot blame that awful condition for bad behavioral outcomes":

A) within-group variation
B) discretion
C) the golden rule
D) between-group variation

Question 13

The experiment by Philip Zimbardo in 1971 was believed to support the notion that:

A) prisons have little effect on how inmates or guards react
B) prisons are capable of creating a therapeutic environment
C) unhealthy guards create hostile prison environments
D) prisons are inherently corrupt

Question 14

The experiment by David Rosenhan found which of the following?

A) patients that were faking illnesses were not let into psychiatric facilities
B) untrained staff at psychiatric facilities are just as capable of determining which patients were ill and which were cured
C) separating the cured patients from the ill patients was a daunting task even for trained physicians and clinicians
D) physicians and clinicians were excellent judges in determining which patients were ill and which were cured

Question 15

Liberals grew deeply concerned about state-enforced therapy after which published author's study?

A) David Rosenhan
B) Philip Zimbardo
C) Francis Cullen
D) Travis Hirschi

Question 16

Which of the following statements is true about the effects of the Attica prison riot?

A) it created distrust in state powers to rehabilitate offenders
B) it reinforced the need for more state oversight in prisons
C) it had no effect on the rehabilitation movement
D) it reinforced rehabilitation as a necessary component in prisons

Question 17

According to the justice model for corrections, the goal of the correctional system should be which of the following?

A) to ensure that criminals receive adequate, mandatory treatment while serving out their sentence
B) to promote justice by publicly posting penalties for everyone to see the consequences of their criminal behavior
C) to give all criminals the exact same sentence regardless of the offense type
D) not to rehabilitate offenders but to ensure they receive penalties that are fair and not excessive

Question 18

Which of the following was not a consequence of the justice model?

A) increases in determinate sentencing
B) national sentencing reform
C) increases in individualized treatment
D) prison overcrowding

Question 19

All of the following statements are true regarding why the liberal justice model was not successful except for:

A) the advocates had no response for how to reduce crime
B) removing discretion from sentencing and corrections created concentrated power with legislators
C) the US was no longer in a prolonged liberal era
D) the advocates did not listen to the public who wanted more rehabilitation in prisons

Question 20

Which of the following statements explain why a purely retributive or just deserts theory of corrections is not plausible?

A) there are not enough criminals to make the theory effective
B) people expect the legal system not only to do justice but also to control crime
C) people do not know how the theory is supposed to work in order to support it
D) the theory does not focus on restoring victim-offender relationships

Question 21

Explain what retribution or just deserts theory is and how it differs for conservatives and liberals. What are the similarities and difference?

Question 22

Describe a major challenge for the just deserts/retribution theory of corrections. How does this challenge affect correctional policy and public perception?

Question 23

Briefly outline and describe the six major ideas of retribution. What would correctional policy look like if it used a purely retributive theory?

Question 24

Describe the four problems for retribution. How do these problems cause issues for the theory of retribution in practice?

Question 25

Briefly outline the Stanford Prison Experiment. What effects did the results of this study have on rehabilitation?