Deck 2: Ideological and Theoretical Underpinnings to Sentencing and Correctional Policy

Question 1

Which philosophical orientation of punishment is often referred to as the "eye for an eye" mentality?

A) rehabilitation
B) deterrence
C) incapacitation
D) retribution

Answer 1

retribution

Question 2

Which philosophical orientation of punishment is the justification for punishment by the concept of lex talionis?

A) incapacitation
B) rehabilitation
C) retribution
D) deterrence

Answer 2

retribution

Question 3

Which model of punishment is grounded in the idea that, regardless of any secondary purpose that punishment might be intended to serve, it is right to punish offenders because justice demands it?

A) retribution
B) rehabilitation
C) restorative justice
D) incapacitation

Answer 3

retribution

Question 4

______ involves the concept that offenders committing a crime should be punished in a way that is equal to the severity of the crime they committed.

A) Retribution
B) Incapacitation
C) Selective deterrence
D) Selective revenge

Question 5

Retribution is ______ revenge that is tempered with proportionality and enacted by a neutral party.

A) selective
B) constrained
C) selective.
D) simple

Question 6

______ is implemented by identifying inmates who are of particular concern to public safety and by providing those specific offenders with much longer sentences than would be given to other inmates.

A) Selective probation
B) Selective retribution
C) Selective incapacitation
D) Selective parole

Question 7

______ is a punishment to a particular offender in the hope that he or she will be discouraged from committing future crimes.

A) Specific deterrence
B) General retribution
C) Specific incapacitation
D) General deterrence

Question 8

______ is the concept of punishing an offender in public so that other observers will refrain from future criminal behavior.

A) Specific deterrence
B) General retribution
C) Specific incapacitation
D) General deterrence

Question 9

What is a notion that distinguishes between the circumstances of the possible punishment and the life experience of the person who is likely to get punished?

A) specific deterrence
B) specific contrast
C) contrast deterrence
D) contrast effect

Question 10

Which model of punishment argues that offenders will be deterred from reoffending due to their having worthwhile stakes in legitimate society?

A) incapacitation
B) rehabilitation
C) retribution
D) deterrence

Question 11

The primary purpose of which model of punishment is solely the recovery of the offender, regardless of the crime that was committed?

A) rehabilitation
B) restorative justice
C) retribution
D) deterrence

Question 12

Sentencing schemes under a rehabilitation orientation would be ______.

A) indeterminate
B) determinate
C) mandatory
D) waived

Question 13

What focuses on restoring the health of the community, repairing the harm done, meeting victims' needs, and emphasizing that the offender can and must contribute to those repairs?

A) intervention
B) incarceration
C) confinement
D) detention

Question 14

______ is focused on the reentry of the offender into society. The ultimate goal of these programs is to connect offenders to legitimate areas of society in a manner that is gainful and productive.

A) Corporal punishment
B) Retribution
C) Reintegration
D) Incarceration

Question 15

While efforts do emphasize offender accountability, the use of ______ processes is focused on ensuring that the offender has a maximal set of circumstances that, at least initially, diminish the need or desire to engage in crime by cultivating the connections that the offender has to legitimate society.

A) incapacitation
B) deterrence
C) reintegration
D) retribution

Question 16

In 2005, the Court held in ______ that federal judges no longer were required to follow the sentencing guidelines that had been in effect since 1987.

A) United States v. Booker
B) Atkins v. Virginia
C) Mapp v. Ohio
D) Terry v. Ohio

Question 17

What refers to any broad array of sentencing and punishment options that range from simple fines to incarceration and ultimately end with the death penalty?

A) mandatory minimums
B) continuum of sanctions
C) plea bargaining
D) sentence calibration

Question 18

______ criminologists appealed to the use of reason in applying punishments, and that is precisely what a continuum seeks to achieve.

A) Chicago
B) Neo
C) Classical
D) Traditional

Question 19

The purpose of ______ is to make available a continuum of sanctions scaled around one or more sanctioning goals.

A) intermediate sanctions
B) probation
C) incarceration
D) parole

Question 20

Though the majority of offenders under supervision are on community supervision, the ______ type of sentence still draws public interest due to its ominous nature.

A) incarcerative
B) probation
C) parole
D) community

Question 21

Among incarceration options, what is considered the first stage of incarceration for the offender?

A) weekend confinement
B) jail
C) work release
D) prison

Question 22

It is sufficient to say that incarceration, while accounting for no more than ______ of the entire correctional population, tends to draw substantial public and media attention.

A) 50%
B) 40%
C) 30%
D) 20%

Question 23

Opponents of the death penalty who argue against deterrence as a rationale for using the death penalty note that while numerous statistical studies have been conducted, there is ______

A) a lot of evidence that the death penalty lowers crime
B) no conclusive evidence that the death penalty lowers crime
C) more than enough evidence that the death penalty lowers crime
D) some evidence that the death penalty lowers crime

Question 24

What contends that the death penalty may actually cause an increase in murders because it reinforces the use of violence?

A) brutalization hypothesis
B) selective hypothesis
C) death hypothesis
D) penalty hypothesis

Question 25

In their examination of the reinstatement of the death penalty in Oklahoma, what did Cochran, Chamlin, and Seth (1994) find in regard to the brutalization hypothesis?

A) They found strong evidence that Oklahoma's reintroduction of the execution produced a significant decrease in the level of criminal homicides during the period under investigation.
B) They found some evidence that Oklahoma's reintroduction of the execution produced a significant decrease in the level of criminal homicides during the period under investigation.
C) They found slight evidence that Oklahoma's reintroduction of the execution produced a significant decrease in the level of criminal homicides during the period under investigation.
D) They found no evidence that Oklahoma's reintroduction of the execution produced a significant decrease in the level of criminal homicides during the period under investigation.

Question 26

Sentencing involves a ______ decision-making process.

A) single-stage
B) two-stage
C) three-stage
D) four-stage

Question 27

The most important factor in deciding on a sanction is ______.

A) crime seriousness
B) prior record
C) possibility for rehabilitation
D) need to protect society

Question 28

______ circumstances magnify the offensive nature of the crime and tend to result in longer sentences.

A) Mitigating
B) Lessened
C) Reinforced
D) Aggravating

Question 29

When earned, what is taken off the total sentence that inmates must serve, thereby allowing them to be released early from prison?

A) total time
B) good time
C) time spent
D) time served

Question 30

What type of sentence specifies the exact length of the sentence to be served by the inmate?

A) indeterminate
B) determinate presumptive
C) three-strikes
D) deterrence

Question 31

What type of sentence is a range of time to be served with the specific sentence to be served within that range to be decided by the judge?

A) indeterminate presumptive
B) determinate presumptive
C) determinate discretionary
D) mandatory minimum

Question 32

What type of sentence requires that some minimum length of incarceration be served by offenders who commit certain specified crimes, such as drug-related crimes?

A) minimum presumptive
B) indeterminate presumptive
C) mandatory minimum
D) determinate minimum

Question 33

What refers to inconsistencies in sentencing and/or sanctions that result from the decision-making process?

A) prejudice
B) disparity
C) discrimination
D) detention

Question 34

What results when the criminal justice system provides an unequal response toward one group?

A) consistency
B) disparity
C) prejudice
D) discrimination

Question 35

What focuses on attributes of offenders when providing a given sentence?

A) discrimination
B) prejudice
C) disparity
D) consistency

Question 36

What usually results in a differential response toward a group without providing any legally legitimate reasons for that response?

A) prejudice
B) disparity
C) discrimination
D) detention

Question 37

Which geographic region imposes the harshest sentences in the United States?

A) Midwest
B) Northeast
C) South
D) North

Question 38

Which act in 2014 was designed to adjust federal mandatory sentencing guidelines in an effort to reduce the size of the U.S. prison population?

A) Smarter Sentencing Act
B) Booker Act
C) Fair Sentencing Act
D) Criminal Offender Bill

Question 39

Which of the following individual personality traits is associated with criminal behavior?

A) mental instability
B) resentment
C) self-assertiveness
D) all of these

Question 40

What form of behavioral modification is based on the notion that certain environmental consequences occur that strengthen the likelihood of a given behavior, and other consequences tend to lessen the likelihood that a given behavior is repeated?

A) social learning
B) social observation
C) operant conditioning
D) selective conditioning

Question 41

According to operant conditioning, consequences that strengthen a given behavior are called ______.

A) punishments
B) reinforcers
C) discrimination
D) disparities

Question 42

According to operant conditioning, what are rewards for a desired behavior?

A) positive punishments
B) negative reinforcers
C) negative punishments
D) positive reinforcers

Question 43

According to operant conditioning, consequences that weaken a given behavior are known as ______.

A) punishments
B) reinforcers
C) discrimination
D) disparities

Question 44

According to operant conditioning, what occurs when a stimulus is applied to the offender when the offender commits an undesired behavior?

A) positive reinforcers
B) negative reinforcers
C) negative punishment
D) positive punishment

Question 45

According to operant conditioning, what occurs when there is a removal of a valued stimulus when the offender commits an undesired behavior?

A) positive reinforcers
B) negative reinforcers
C) negative punishment
D) positive punishment

Question 46

According to operant conditioning, what are intended to increase the likelihood of a desired behavior?

A) positives
B) reinforcers
C) punishment
D) negatives

Question 47

According to operant conditioning, what term refers to the removal of a stimulus rather than being used to denote something that is bad or harmful?

A) negative
B) punishment
C) positive
D) reinforcer

Question 48

Which theory contends that offenders learn to engage in crime through exposure to and adoption of definitions favorable to the commission of a crime?

A) conflict theory
B) labeling theory
C) strain theory
D) social learning theory

Question 49

The anomie theory contends that when individuals cannot obtain success goals, they will tend to experience a sense of pressure often called ______.

A) anxiety
B) strain
C) stress
D) pressure

Question 50

Which theory contends that individuals become stabilized in criminal roles when they are labeled as criminals, are stigmatized, develop criminal identities, are sent to prison, and are excluded from conventional roles?

A) strain theory
B) differential association theory
C) social learning theory
D) social reaction theory

Question 51

Which famous labeling theorists suggested a particularly insightful addition to the labeling theory literature that is specifically suited for the field of community supervision?

A) William Penn
B) Edwin Sutherland
C) John Braithwaite
D) Howard Becker

Question 52

Which individual argued that the negative effects of stigmatization are most pronounced among offenders who have few prosocial bonds to conventional society?

A) Augustus
B) Bentham
C) Beccaria
D) Braithwaite

Question 53

Which theory is derived from the work of Karl Marx and contends that inequality and power are the central issues underlying crime and its control?

A) conflict theory
B) strain theory
C) social reaction theory
D) social learning theory

Question 54

Deterrence is the justification for punishment by the concept of lex talionis.

Question 55

Retribution involves the concept that offenders committing a crime should be punished in a way that is equal to the severity of the crime they committed.

Question 56

Selective incapacitation involves identifying inmates who are of particular concern to public safety and providing them with much longer sentences.

Question 57

Restorative justice implies that an offender should be provided the means to achieve a constructive level of functioning in society, with an implicit expectation that such offenders will be deterred from reoffending due to their having worthwhile stakes in legitimate society stakes that they will not wish to lose as a consequence of criminal offending.

Question 58

Sentencing justice is a term for interventions that focus on restoring the health of the community, repairing the harm done, meeting victims' needs, and emphasizing that the offender can and must contribute to those repairs.

Question 59

In January 2005, the United Supreme Court held in United States v. Katz that federal judges no longer are required to follow the sentencing guidelines in effect since 1987.

Question 60

When using the term calibrate, it is meant that sanctions can be selected in such a manner that allows us to, through an additive process, weigh the seriousness and number of the sanction(s) that are given so that the punishment effect is as proportional to the crime as can be arranged. The desire to establish proportionality harkens back to the thinking of classical criminologists, and this should not be surprising.

Question 61

Classical criminologists appealed to the use of reason in applying punishments, and that is precisely what a continuum seeks to achieve.

Question 62

Harvard criminologists appealed to the use of reason in applying punishments, and that is precisely what a continuum seeks to achieve.

Question 63

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (2008) defines prisons as "locally-operated correctional facilities that confine persons before or after adjudication. Inmates sentenced to jails usually have a sentence of a year or less, but jails also incarcerate persons in a wide variety of other categories."

Question 64

Mitigating factors do not exonerate an offender but do make the commission of the crime more understandable and also help reduce the level of culpability the offender might have taken.

Question 65

Aggravating circumstances magnify the offensive nature of the crime and tend to result in longer sentences.

Question 66

Penal codes with indeterminate sentencing stipulate minimum and maximum sentences that must be served in prison (2-9 years, 3-5 years, etc.).

Question 67

Determinate sentencing consists of fixed periods of incarceration with no later flexibility in the term that is served.

Question 68

Racism refers to inconsistencies in sentencing and/or sanctions that result from the decision-making process.

Question 69

The southern and western regions of the United States impose harsher sentences than other regions of the United States.

Question 70

Negative reinforcers are unpleasant stimuli that are removed when a desired behavior occurs.

Question 71

A positive punishment is one where a stimulus is applied to the offender when the offender commits an undesired behavior.

Question 72

Negative reinforcement is the removal of a valued stimulus when the offender commits an undesired behavior.

Question 73

The social control theory contends that offenders learn to engage in crime through exposure to and adoption of definitions that are favorable to the commission of crime.

Question 74

The labeling theory contends that individuals become stabilized in criminal roles when they are labeled as criminals, are stigmatized, develop criminal identities, are sent to prison, and are excluded from conventional roles.

Question 75

The social disorganization theory contends that individuals become stabilized in criminal roles when they are labeled as criminals, are stigmatized, develop criminal identities, are sent to prison, and are excluded from conventional roles?

Question 76

The social learning theory believes that inequality and power are the central issues underlying crime and its control.

Question 77

Monetary fines are perhaps the least serious of sanctions, followed by a very wide range of intermediate community-based sanctions.

Question 78

Disparities were noted to be especially problematic in the northeastern part of the United States, and it has been found that disparities with punishments exist with both prison sentences and the application of the death penalty.

Question 79

Define the retribution model of punishment. In what idea is this model grounded?

Question 80

Define restorative justice. How does the concept affect the field of corrections? Provide an example of restorative justice being utilized to resolve crime.