Deck 6: Crime, Violence, and Criminal Justice

Question 1

Which of the following defines people's responsibilities to uphold public order?

A)civil law
B)criminal law
C)beliefs
D)folkways

Answer 1

B

Question 2

According to official statistics describing murder,

A)most murder victims are female.
B)offenders and victims are generally of the same race.
C)offenders and victims are generally of a different race.
D)most offenders and victims are members of the same family.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Sexual assault in which offender and victim have some personal relationship is called

A)date rape.
B)stalking.
C)forcible rape.
D)statutory rape.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Which serious crime is both a property crime and a violent crime?

A)robbery
B)aggravated assault
C)rape
D)murder

Question 5

The first antistalking law in the United States was passed in

A)1940 in the state of Michigan.
B)1960 in the state of New York.
C)1990 in the state of California.
D)2010 in the state of Utah.

Question 6

The Federal Bureau of Investigation compiles an annual publication of crime reports from police departments across the country, called

A)National Crime Index.
B)FBI Crime Report: Criminal Archives.
C)Crime in the United States: Uniform Crime Report.
D)American Investigative Crime Survey.

Question 7

Norms that are formally created through a society's political system are referred to as

A)values.
B)mores.
C)folkways.
D)laws.

Question 8

The statistics found in Crime in the United States: Uniform Crime Report are based on

A)all crimes that are committed.
B)only violent crime.
C)only crimes known to the police.
D)all unreported crimes.

Question 9

Which of the following is a crime against persons?

A)burglary
B)larceny-theft
C)arson
D)robbery

Question 10

Rick has been charged with an offense that carries a maximum penalty of a 90-day jail sentence; he has been charged with a

A)status offense.
B)misdemeanor.
C)vice crime.
D)felony.

Question 11

According to research published in 2013, what proportion of the U.S. adult population reports being afraid to walk alone at night in their own communities?

A)one-tenth
B)one-fifth
C)one-third
D)two-thirds

Question 12

Comparing victimization survey responses to police reports shows that about what percentage of serious crime is known to police?

A)less than 10 percent of violent crime and property crime
B)about half of violent crime and one-third of property crime
C)about half of violent crime and almost all property crime
D)more than 95 percent of violent crime and property crime

Question 13

In 2010, what percentage of reported murders in the United States resulted in arrests?

A)3 percent
B)23 percent
C)43 percent
D)63 percent

Question 14

Which term refers to rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its members?

A)norms
B)punishment
C)beliefs
D)statuses

Question 15

Which term refers to the violation of the criminal laws enacted by federal, state, or local governments?

A)deviance
B)mores
C)crime
D)corrections

Question 16

Which term refers to a more serious crime punishable by at least one year in prison?

A)capital offense
B)misdemeanor
C)civil infraction
D)felony

Question 17

Crime against property accounts for what share of all serious offenses?

A)18 percent
B)38 percent
C)58 percent
D)88 percent

Question 18

In the United States, police record about how many serious crimes each year?

A)500,000
B)1 million
C)10 million
D)100 million

Question 19

Which of the following is a crime against property?

A)murder
B)burglary
C)assault
D)manslaughter

Question 20

In 2012, how many murders were recorded by police?

A)929
B)6,934
C)14,827
D)169,590

Question 21

Which of the following is the most common of all serious crimes tracked by the FBI?

A)aggravated assault
B)larceny-theft
C)burglary
D)robbery

Question 22

During the Prohibition era, when the government outlawed the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages, which type of crime led to criminals gaining both wealth and power by making and distributing liquor to an eager public?

A)corporate crime
B)white collar crime
C)victimless crime
D)organized crime

Question 23

Which type of offense directly harms no one but the offenders?

A)organized crime
B)victimless crime
C)white-collar crime
D)corporate crime

Question 24

Which of the following would constitute a "hate crime"?

A)an assault motivated by anti-gay feelings on a person believed by the offender to be gay
B)an Asian gang member stealing a car from a white woman
C)a white person raping a black person with whom he has been friends
D)an Italian man embezzling from his workplace

Question 25

Moving police officers from automobiles to bicycles and foot patrol is part of a policy called

A)discretionary enforcement.
B)community policing.
C)due process.
D)zero tolerance policy.

Question 26

Illegal actions by a business or others acting on its behalf is called

A)corporate crime.
B)organized crime.
C)white-collar crime.
D)victimless crime.

Question 27

Embezzlement is an example of which type of crime?

A)corporate crime
B)white-collar crime
C)status offense
D)victimless crime

Question 28

The official profile of the typical "street criminal" is based on

A)prosecutions.
B)courtroom convictions.
C)the prison population.
D)arrest data from the FBI.

Question 29

Suppose that a police SWAT team kills members of a terrorist group who are holding innocent citizens hostage. These police actions illustrate which type of violence?

A)institutional
B)anti-institutional
C)collective
D)bureaucratic

Question 30

For which of the following offenses do police arrest mostly women?

A)larceny-theft
B)fraud
C)arson
D)prostitution

Question 31

The presence of so much violence in the mass media

A)has resulted in effective government action to eliminate it.
B)appears to have little effect on the people who view violence.
C)may have the effect of desensitizing us all to violence.
D)was a major issue debated during the 2012 presidential election.

Question 32

Our society's use of due process, involving police, courts, and punishment, to enforce the law. is called

A)the criminal justice system.
B)rational-legal authority.
C)the normative structure.
D)bureaucratic control system.

Question 33

Which of these is NOT one of the factors that commonly influences whether violence is likely to be defined as a social problem?

A)Does the violence conform to or violate social norms and values? 
B)Does the violence support the social order? 
C)Is the violence committed by or against the government? 
D)Does the violence cause physical harm to any person?

Question 34

The killing of twenty-six people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 is an example of

A)mass murder.
B)serial murder.
C)a hate crime.
D)institutional violence.

Question 35

Child abuse was defined as a social problem

A)in colonial times by the church.
B)about 1960, largely based on the activism of Dr.C.Henry Kempe.
C)as part of the civil rights movement of the 1950s.
D)in the 1990s as an example of sexual violence.

Question 36

If you believe that a solution to the problem of guns and violence is enacting laws that make guns harder to get, you are probably

A)liberal.
B)conservative.
C)not very political.
D)on the far-right politically.

Question 37

Research analyzing the link between crime and social class shows that most arrests for street crime are of

A)people of lower social position.
B)middle-class people.
C)upper-class people.
D)people at all class levels to an equal degree.

Question 38

Which term refers to the violation of the law by young people?

A)status offenses
B)statutory offenses
C)juvenile delinquency
D)recidivism

Question 39

In 2012, police cleared what percentage of motor-vehicle thefts?

A)7.4 percent
B)25 percent
C)50 percent
D)74 percent

Question 40

In terms of absolute numbers, most crimes involve offenders who are

A)white.
B)African American.
C)Hispanic.
D)Asian American.

Question 41

Point to four factors that explain why violence may or may not be defined as a social problem. Give examples of how each factor might affect how a particular type of violence is seen as acceptable or unacceptable?

Question 42

Provide a profile of the typical street crime offender in terms of age, sex, social class, and race.

Question 43

From the liberal view, crime and violence are caused by

A)ineffective socialization and inadequate family ties.
B)a harmful societal environment such as poverty.
C)a faulty conscience.
D)failure to punish quickly and severely.

Question 44

Marxist theory sees crime as a product of

A)moral boundaries.
B)labeling.
C)social inequality.
D)a lack of psychological adjustment.

Question 45

Travis Hirschi argues in his control theory that what discourages crime is

A)being in the middle class or the upper social class.
B)having strong social ties that integrate the person within the community.
C)having good genes.
D)not being labeled as likely to commit crimes.

Question 46

Emile Durkheim reasoned that crime is quite normal and performs important functions for the operation of society. This assessment fits which theoretical approach?

A)social-conflict approach
B)symbolic-interaction approach
C)labeling theory
D)structural-functional approach

Question 47

With regard to biological theories of crime,

A)there is clear evidence linking criminality to specific genetic traits.
B)several biological theories explain violent crime but not property crime.
C)several biological theories explain property crime but not violent crime.
D)most people convicted of crimes are biologically just like the rest of us.

Question 48

From the conservative view, the most effective social control in reference to crime is

A)police.
B)deterrence.
C)values that produce a strong individual conscience.
D)the criminal justice system.

Question 49

Explain the labeling approach to deviance. What is the difference between primary and secondary deviance?

Question 50

crime? How do they differ in defining solutions to the crime problem? What can we learn from each point of view that might make our society safer and more just?

Question 51

Which theory states that crime and other deviance results not so much from what people do as from how others respond to those actions?

A)control theory
B)differential association theory
C)strain theory
D)labeling theory

Question 52

Explain the four justifications of punishment. Which ones do you find more important? Why?

Question 53

From the radical left view, the real crime in U.S. society is

A)the absence of swift and effective punishment.
B)the extent of economic inequality.
C)people's weak consciences.
D)inadequacy of the family and community in properly socializing and integrating people.

Question 54

Which term refers to subsequent offenses committed by people previously convicted of crimes?

A)criminal recidivism
B)specific deterrence
C)mens rea
D)shock probation

Question 55

There are four major justifications for punishment. Which of the following is NOT one of these?

A)retribution
B)guilt reduction
C)deterrence
D)societal protection