Deck 1: Theoretical Criminology: An Introductory Overview

Question 1

How is criminology different from criminal justice science as a field of study?

A) Criminology, by definition, is focused on the making of and breaking of laws.
B) Criminologists have less disagreements among themselves.
C) Criminal justice is less focused on finding "solutions" to the crime problem.
D) Criminal justice always defines criminal behavior differently.

Answer 1

Criminology, by definition, is focused on the making of and breaking of laws.

Question 2

Contemporary criminology began during what time period?

A) The time of ancient Babylonia
B) The Code of Hammurabi time period
C) The late 18^th century age of Enlightenment
D) The late 20^th century

Answer 2

The late 18^th century age of Enlightenment

Question 3

Which philosophers emphasized free will over blind faith and superstition?

A) Rousseau
B) Voltaire
C) Locke
D) All of the above

Answer 3

All of the above

Question 4

What type of justice system existed prior to an emphasis on reasoning in the evolution of criminology?

A) Communal warfare
B) Family-revenge model
C) Paid policing model
D) International law

Question 5

Which group believed that isolation, labor, and Bible reading would result in repentance, or rehabilitation?

A) The ancient Babylonians
B) Philosophers such as Voltaire, Rousseau, and Locke
C) Those early Americans who held the Salem Witch Trials
D) Philadelphia Quakers

Question 6

Which historical legacy of the Classical School continues to push for the achievement of deterrence as an objective of the criminal justice system?

A) Neoclassicism
B) The Enlightenment
C) Positivism
D) Determinism

Question 7

Which of the following is an example of a principle underlying the concept of deterrence?

A) Certainty
B) Severity
C) Celerity
D) All of the above

Question 8

Determinism takes the position that human behavior may be caused by biological, psychological, and/or ______________ factors.

A) spiritual
B) environmental
C) labor market
D) decision making

Question 9

During what time period did the Chicago School begin to influence criminological thought?

A) 1880-1889
B) 1900-1919
C) 1920-1940
D) 1950-1960

Question 10

Which of the following concerns the process of actually identifying how you are going to measure theoretical concepts?

A) Conceptualization
B) Operationalization
C) Characterization
D) All of the above

Question 11

Criminality refers to the ____________________ of offending among and between social groups.

A) extent and frequency
B) individual differences
C) constant patterns
D) definitions

Question 12

Which of the following is an example of a research question that primarily addresses the dependent variable of criminality, not locale?

A) Why are rates of gun ownership and crime more correlated in Southern states?
B) Why is there more homicide in Memphis than in Phoenix?
C) Why are males more criminal than females?
D) Why does crime itself exist?

Question 13

Correlation speaks to the _____________ of two variables, or the direction and strength of fluctuation in a dependent variable by an independent variable.

A) spuriousness
B) covariance
C) constant influence
D) sequence

Question 14

Which of the following statements would represent an example of where a positive correlation would most typically be found?

A) A social group's level of drug use and level of involvement in crime
B) A social group's level of educational attainment and level of involvement in crime
C) The minimal impact of a gang awareness program in preventing gang membership
D) The change in crime rates due to changes in locale

Question 15

Criminology is focused on:

A) the actual practices of law enforcement, legal processes, and corrections.
B) extensive forensic lab testing to understand criminals and crime.
C) overseeing the operations and organization of the criminal justice system.
D) understanding the various causes of crimes.

Question 16

Of the following, which is most likely to make a theory scientific?

A) Well-conceptualized variables
B) Explainable opinions
C) Falsifiable statements
D) Consistent premises

Question 17

Which of the following is NOT one of the four elements required for causation in the context of scientific theorizing?

A) Appropriate locale for locating a sample to study
B) Logical basis for believing a causal relationship exists
C) A time sequence of cause and effect elements
D) Correlation, indicating strength and direction of influence

Question 18

Which of the following make up the criteria necessary to be met in order for a program, treatment modality, or practice to be considered evidence based?

A) Causality, lack of spurious, logical based
B) Previous implementation and delivery, scientific evaluation finding effectiveness, successful replication
C) Logical based, fair, successful replication
D) Temporal order, logical based, lack of spurious

Question 19

Micro-level is to macro-level as:

A) culture is to structure.
B) culture is to subculture.
C) individual is to society.
D) positive is to negative.

Question 20

Durkheim and Parsons are attributed to the development of which theoretical perspective?

A) Symbolic interactionism
B) Functionalism
C) Classicism
D) Neoconservatism

Question 21

Which sociological perspective has conditioned criminology in ways where looking at value conflicts and inequalities are seen as fruitful?

A) Functionalism
B) Conflict
C) Interactionism
D) Egalitarianism

Question 22

Marxist and feminist criminology have been most conditioned by which sociological perspective?

A) Functionalism
B) Conflict
C) Interactionism
D) Egalitarianism

Question 23

Much criminological theorizing generates what kind of research?

A) Basic
B) Pure
C) Advanced
D) Applied

Question 24

Which of the following perspectives has influenced several theories including learning theory, reintegrative shaming, and routine activities theory?

A) Symbolic interactionism
B) Functionalism
C) Conflict
D) Realism

Question 25

What does theory provide students investigating crime?

A) Provides a scientific orientation for studying crime
B) Grounds modes of inquiry into systematic analysis
C) Identifies cause and effect relationships
D) All of the above

Question 26

Trial by battle and trial by ordeal both were vested in the spiritual notion of divine intervention.

Question 27

The first dominant paradigm in American criminology was Neoclassicism.

Question 28

Determinism assumes that the causes of behavior can be identified and that they can enable predictions about behavioral outcomes that will be likely to occur given certain conditions.

Question 29

The Chicago School is most known for its development of the social ecology model of thought.

Question 30

A dependent variable is the cause while an independent variable is the effect.

Question 31

Crime rates, as distinguished from criminality, denote the level of crime in a given locale.

Question 32

A correlation that is near zero indicates a weak relationship between the independent and dependent variable(s).

Question 33

Spuriousness is something that scientific theories strive to avoid.

Question 34

A micro-level theory usually focuses on demographic compositional differences (e.g., age, gender, and ethnic composition) more so than a macro-level theory.

Question 35

Learning theory is derived from the social conflict perspective.

Question 36

The correlation between two variables can be positive or negative.

Question 37

As defined by Cressey (1978) criminology is focused on the processes of making and breaking laws.

Question 38

Showing that the independent variable occurred prior to the dependent variable is NOT necessary to prove causality.

Question 39

Evidence-based practice is a concept that entails scientific research and has emerged in recent years in applied fields such as criminal justice

Question 40

Research-practitioner partnerships are argued to be mutually beneficial and are necessary to demonstrate effectiveness and accountability.

Question 41

Trial by battle and trial by ordeal are examples of solutions to feuds and represent the _______________ _______________ of justice.

Question 42

___________ ____________ involves the sacrifice of some personal freedom by endorsement of governmental law enforcement in exchange for protection and benefit of all.

Question 43

_______________ focuses on the process of making and breaking laws.

Question 44

The _______________ era focused on free will versus demonic possession when discussing the reasons for crime.

Question 45

The Chicago school perspective and researchers such as Shaw and McKay, Merton and Sutherland established a paradigm that linked causes of crime to the __________.

Question 46

The notions of the classical school were later revised by legal reformers and this came to be known as ____________.

Question 47

Cesare Lombroso illustrated a ______ _______ in his work which was associated with determinism.

Question 48

_______________ is the foremost dependent variable in criminology.

Question 49

The functionalist perspective contends social order is realized because people reach an agreement on what behaviors that they deem are acceptable, otherwise known as ___________.

Question 50

____________ takes the position that human behavior is caused by factors specific to the individual, such as biological and psychological issues.

Question 51

Match the word to its description

-Criminologists

A) Focused on the process of making and breaking laws
B) Seek to understand how the creation of criminal law defines misbehavior and concerned with various causes of crime
C) Denotes the extent and frequency of offending by a societal group, such as the young, minorities, non-citizens, etc.
D) Concerned with the actual practices of law enforcement, legal process , and corrections

Question 52

Match the word to its description

-Criminal Justice

A) Focused on the process of making and breaking laws
B) Seek to understand how the creation of criminal law defines misbehavior and concerned with various causes of crime
C) Denotes the extent and frequency of offending by a societal group, such as the young, minorities, non-citizens, etc.
D) Concerned with the actual practices of law enforcement, legal process , and corrections

Question 53

Match the word to its description

-Criminality

A) Focused on the process of making and breaking laws
B) Seek to understand how the creation of criminal law defines misbehavior and concerned with various causes of crime
C) Denotes the extent and frequency of offending by a societal group, such as the young, minorities, non-citizens, etc.
D) Concerned with the actual practices of law enforcement, legal process , and corrections

Question 54

Match the word to its description

-Criminology

A) Focused on the process of making and breaking laws
B) Seek to understand how the creation of criminal law defines misbehavior and concerned with various causes of crime
C) Denotes the extent and frequency of offending by a societal group, such as the young, minorities, non-citizens, etc.
D) Concerned with the actual practices of law enforcement, legal process , and corrections

Question 55

Match the perspectives to its description

-Classical School

A) Emphasized human behavior is caused by factors specific to the individual
B) Emphasized application of scientific method by stressing the identification of patterns and consistencies in observable facts
C) Emphasized relationships between criminal behavior and punishment
D) Demonstrated crime is product of social ecology

Question 56

Match the perspectives to its description

-Determinism

A) Emphasized human behavior is caused by factors specific to the individual
B) Emphasized application of scientific method by stressing the identification of patterns and consistencies in observable facts
C) Emphasized relationships between criminal behavior and punishment
D) Demonstrated crime is product of social ecology

Question 57

Match the perspectives to its description

-Chicago School

A) Emphasized human behavior is caused by factors specific to the individual
B) Emphasized application of scientific method by stressing the identification of patterns and consistencies in observable facts
C) Emphasized relationships between criminal behavior and punishment
D) Demonstrated crime is product of social ecology

Question 58

Match the perspectives to its description

-Positivism

A) Emphasized human behavior is caused by factors specific to the individual
B) Emphasized application of scientific method by stressing the identification of patterns and consistencies in observable facts
C) Emphasized relationships between criminal behavior and punishment
D) Demonstrated crime is product of social ecology

Question 59

Match the term to its description

-Correlation

A) Identifying measurable indicators for variables
B) Something that varies and is not constant, typically termed causes and effects
C) Systematic explanation composed of statements indicating an outcome's causal and associated elements
D) Presence of a relationship between observable phenomena

Question 60

Match the term to its description

-Operationalization

A) Identifying measurable indicators for variables
B) Something that varies and is not constant, typically termed causes and effects
C) Systematic explanation composed of statements indicating an outcome's causal and associated elements
D) Presence of a relationship between observable phenomena

Question 61

Match the term to its description

-Theory

A) Identifying measurable indicators for variables
B) Something that varies and is not constant, typically termed causes and effects
C) Systematic explanation composed of statements indicating an outcome's causal and associated elements
D) Presence of a relationship between observable phenomena

Question 62

Match the term to its description

-Variables

A) Identifying measurable indicators for variables
B) Something that varies and is not constant, typically termed causes and effects
C) Systematic explanation composed of statements indicating an outcome's causal and associated elements
D) Presence of a relationship between observable phenomena

Question 63

Describe how classical and positive schools of criminology perspectives differ from one another.

Question 64

Describe the four main components necessary to demonstrate causality?

Question 65

Compare and contrast micro and macro-level explanations for crime giving examples of both.

Question 66

What is the role of criminological theory for research purposes? Can theoretical explanations be integrated/combined to better explain criminal behavior?

Question 67

The textbook explained that theory and research are inextricably linked with criminal justice policy. Explain this relationship by discussing one specific theory and one policy implication that can be drawn from that theory.

Question 68

Describe and discuss why criminologists recognize the origins of criminality in the Enlightenment period?